Halifax - August 24/25

Toronto - September 7/8

YOU DON'T NEED TO BE IN ATTENDANCE AT THE FESTIVAL TO CONTRIBUTE!!!

FOR INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING, PLEASE ADD $3 FOR CANADA, $5 FOR THE UNITED STATES, AND $8 FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD

FULL DISCLOSURE ABOUT WHERE THE MONEY WAS SPENT WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE BY SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2013

Before We Begin:

-Crowd funding revenue will cover festival expenses for all STM Festivals (Toronto and Halifax, with several more cities in the works) and so if the goal is reached, then 100% of ticket sales from each festival will go to their individual causes.

-Share the project through your band's Facebook page or Twitter etc and offer up signed albums or records to fans! Your band gets the royalties, and the rest of the money from the perk goes to Kiva.

-When ordering perks for yourselves, make sure to include a comment which states which album you'd like to get signed, etc.

-Everything extra that is raised through this crowd funding campaign will go directly to Kiva to support entrepreneurs around the world.

Short Summary

Record labels have earned your contempt for decades. Not all of them are leeches, and some definitely have a real commitment to music, but Spread the Metal Records believes we can be doing even more. 

I'm Matt Day, and I run STM Records. I believe that bands should be evenly compensated for their hard work, and that businesses can do a better job of giving what they have, in order to assist the less fortunate.

Last year, I started a metal festival with the idea that 100% of profits (revenue after expenses) would be given to a non-profit organization. This year, I have two; one in Toronto and the other in Halifax.

Profits from the Halifax show will be going to The Heart and Stroke Foundation, and profits from the Toronto show will be going to Kiva.

New cities all around the world will host Spread the Metal Festivals soon too!!!

Kiva is quickly becoming one of my favorite organizations. Loans administered through Kiva go directly to entrepreneurs around the world in order to give them a fighting chance.

Alleviating poverty is not going to be the result of a quick fix. We have to fix the underlying problems facing our world, and Kiva is one of the organizations that is out there doing it.

They can explain it better here:

http://www.kiva.org/about

Spread the Metal Records fights for those who cannot fight for themselves. We are transparent in all our business dealings and everyone gets straight answers from us. We have nothing to hide.

***I would like to take this opportunity to state that once, we fell through on our commitment to reliability and trust. It wasn't intentional, and I won't go into detail, but we let one of our former bands down. This is our public apology. They are Unleash the Archers, from BC, Canada, and we urge you to check out their incredible music here:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/UnleashTheArchers?fref=ts

Now...back to saving the world!!!

What We Need & What You Get

Putting on a metal festival is crazy expensive. Even more so if you want to bring in quality headliners, which we will obviously be doing!

Headliners:

SUFFOCATION

THE AGONIST

AUGURY

SKULL FIST

MORE TBA

With Special Guests: THE CATALYST, BEHEADING OF A KING, EDGE OF ATTACK, DEATHPOINT, SANKTUARY, NEPHELIUM, ANSWER WITH METAL, CRIMSON SHADOWS, EVERTRAPPED, and HALLOWS DIE!!!

That's a pretty sick lineup, and all these bands need/deserve to be paid. But there's not only the band guarantees, there are also promotional costs, venue rentals, backline set-up, hospitality riders, and more.

We could cover all these costs with good ticket sales, but then hardly anything would be left over to donate to Kiva. And after all, that's kind of the point here, eh?

As well, we believe so strongly in what Kiva is doing, that we want to hand over more money than we EVER could by only relying on profits from ticket sales. Crowd funding has given us the opportunity to reach out to the internet community and make a real difference in people's lives.  

That being said, we want to give people a REASON to contribute, besides that warm, fuzzy feeling that I always get when helping people. That's where these great perks come in!

We're giving away signed albums and set lists from all the headliners, guitar picks, signed tee shirts from the bands, free digital album downloads, invitations to the sound check, and so much more! You even get the chance to punch a record label executive as hard as you'd like!!!

I'm going to be the one volunteering his body for that one! You get up on stage, and wale on me with boxing gloves in payback for what record labels have done!

NOTE ON SHIPPING: If you're planning on coming to the festival, we'll arrange to have your signed albums and such waiting for you. That saves us some shipping costs that would have otherwise come out of Kiva's pockets. The less money we spend like that, the more goes towards the cause.

There is a full budget outlined below to show you exactly where your money is going!

The Impact

This is what I, Matt Day, have dedicated my life to doing. Helping people to rise from the conditions in which they find themselves and create a better life for themselves and their families.

There are certain things that upset me. For example, just 1% of what the governments of the world spend on their militaries, is enough to put every child ON EARTH, into school.

There are something like 18 million empty houses in America, and only 5 million homeless people. Education and Health Care should be free but they're ridiculously expensive.

A staggering number of people are persecuted based on things like skin color, who they choose to marry, and other inconsequential shit.

Allow me to clear something up right now. It is the official position of myself and STM Records, that everyone has the right to be happy. If people spent more time looking for love, instead of judging the people who have already found it, I think we'd be a lot better off.

I could go on and on. I really could. But let's bring this back to Kiva. It is an INCREDIBLE organization, and they strengthen communities all over the world. They've given out more than 400 million dollars in small business loans in 67 countries, with a 99% repayment rate!

Their loan recipients are all people in struggling economies and countries where it would be otherwise impossible for them to get the financial help that they so desperately need.

That's where Kiva comes in! Another one of my favorite organizations is Doctors Without Borders. You can find out more about them here:

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can't make it to the festival, or can't contribute to the campaign, no worries! Thank you for even reading down this far! That being said, there is so much you can do to help us get the message out and save lives. Tell others!!! With all the social networking and ways we can now connect with one another, by sharing this page, you are reaching places we would never be able to reach.