[HANASHIR:15185] Ideas Sprouting for CAJE Discussions and Workshops

[Adrian Durlester <adrian...>]

At CAJE, at the wonderful workshops and roundtables organized by Judy, as
well as at other times we began to get a good sense of the kind of things
needed by our community. These include:

1. A Grammy category for Contemporary Jewish Music. Linda Yelnick
(leahhaifa (at) usa(dot)net) is at the forefront of this effort. Anyone who is
eligible to join NARAS should do so.

2. A Jewish Music Clearinghouse to make obtaining mechanical license and
other rights easy. Jeff Klepper, Judah Cohen and I are beginning preliminary
examination of this project. Anybody know of a potential donor to support
such a massive undertaking? Anybody else what to be part of this effort? For
those of you who don't understand what this is all about, visit
http://www.harryfox.com and visit http://ww.cmpamusic.org to see what the
Christian Music world has done for themselves.

3. A Jewish Musician's Collective--Part I. While there are plenty of
distributors out there (Tara, Soundswrite, Hatikvah, Sisu, ARE, etc.),
everybody can't carry everything. Companies like CD Baby and Amazon are
making it easier for us to sell our CDs. And PayPal makes it easy to sell
via your own web site.  Some still think, however, that if we had our own
Jewish Musician's Cooperative, perhaps independent, or perhaps affiliated
with CD Baby or some other organization, that would make it possible for
more people to have easier access (and perhaps make it easier for those
without the retail savvy that some of us have.) We'd take orders and fulfill
them, do some advertising, and make samples available on the web. (Note to
Randi, Joel, Velvel, et al--this isn't intended to be competition, and we'd
want to set it up with your blessing and cooperation. At this time, it's
just an idea that came up which sounded interesting.) One important issue,
which I'll raise up front, is whether this collective should be open to
anyone who can pay the fee, or whether some audition and approval process is
needed to assure some quality control. I'll make no secret that I favor the
latter, but still want it to be as open as it can possibly be without
sacrificing standards.)

4. Jewish Musician's Collective Part II--In addition to a distribution
channel, there are many artists who don't have the time, know-how, or
wherewithal to handle many of the business aspects. Another idea being
kicked around for the collective would be to make some services available
like website design and hosting, business management services (contracts,
travel arrangements, bookkeeping, bulk, direct and targeted mailings, block
advertising, order processing, order fulfillment and shipping, phone and
e-mail answering service, tax preparation, etc.), booking referrals
(NOTE-this collective would not operate as an agent or artist's rep and
would not book artists-let's leave that to Abi, Linda, Moshe and others who
are the professionals at it. It would, however serve as a referral service,
just as Judy does with JER and Moment does with its listings.) It could also
offer mentoring services, and potentially producing, business manager and
similar services.

This list is the best place to begin hashing out some of these ideas. Let's
have at them. Just remember, it's Elul. Don't write anything to the list
that you might wind up adding to the list of things you need to answer for
at Yom Kippur.

Also, please note that I am serving as the reporter and messenger here. I
don't claim to be the owner of any of these ideas, nor am I endorsing them
all (although I do think they all have some potential, and being for a
Grammy category is a no-brainer.)

Shavua Tov,

Adrian

Adrian A. Durlester, MTS
E-mail: adrian (at) durlester(dot)com  www.durlester.com
Director of Education & Congregational Life, Bethesda Jewish Congregation,
Bethesda, MD
www.bethesdajewish.com
Co-Director, Hazamir/JTAI Choir of Greater DC
Past Conf Chair, CAJE 27, August 4-8, 2002, Trinity University, San Antonio,
TX
List Owner, hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org; Jewish Songleaders/Performers List
www.ehavanashira.org
Co-Owner, l-torah (at) shamash(dot)org; Liberal Torah Discussion List


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