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UPDATE 5/2

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UPDATE 4/15

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We are absolutely blown away to have come so far so fast. You have spoken and we have listened. You wanted a vinyl option that was more affordable, so here it is.  You want more handwritten lyrics, who knew? Well now you got 'em.

We are making more plans for the money we are raising above the goal, and will be posting a new stretch  goal next tuesday, so stay tuned.

-Matt

If we reach our goal:

• DEVIN SHELTON is back for this record
• EMERY will tour this release
• That tour will be centered around songs from The Question

WE WERE NEVER ALONE,

YOU WERE NEVER ALONE

It’s been almost 11 years since we released The Weak’s End.  That's a little hard  for us to believe!  In that time, we've seen more success than we could've possibly dreamed. We've toured the world, released five more albums, and had the privilege of  getting to know a ton of you along the way.  You've never left us.  As we came up with what we wanted to say here, it almost brought us to tears.  We really were never alone. You are Emery.  You are the reason that we're still here, and why our new record is going to be our most important.

Why $50,000?

LEAVING TOOTH AND NAIL

Because of our faith in your support of Emery's music, we've decided to walk away from a great recording contract. This decision was made quickly, literally 15 minutes before finalizing the deal that was in place. And as scary as it was, we felt the need to leave a lot of money on the table. The amount was much greater than the $50,000 goal of this campaign. Sounds like a stupid decision, doesn't it? It was money that we could have used to take care of our families, but like any record deal it came with a price.  We would not own our music.  We essentially would be selling it to a company—albeit, a great company, and one offering a fair deal—but something didn't feel right about someone else owning Emery’s future recordings in perpetuity, especially when independent musicians are getting better opportunities to succeed every year.  We want to own our music.  We want to be able to sell it, give it away, re-record it in different ways, release vinyl, and do whatever we're inspired to do with it.   We wish the same were true of all of our previous releases—all the Emery albums that you love—but sadly, we do not own them, and neither does Tooth and Nail.  Currently, Capitol Records owns and controls our entire back catalogue.  Would you like a vinyl pressing of The Question? That might never happen, because we've been unable to convince Capitol to do anything with it. If we had our way, we would be able to release our entire discography in new and creative forms... but we don't... 

So here is what we're gonna do

We are asking for you to partner with us.  As you may or may not know, the costs of writing, recording, mixing, mastering, manufacturing, promoting and releasing an album that meets the standards of Emery's previous releases can add up.  Those costs are more than financial as well.  It’s hard to calculate time spent away from your family and kids. Those of you who create art know how difficult it can be to pour yourself into a project, to struggle through self-doubt, and then to release it for public critique and scrutiny.  It’s hard to know the right direction and if you’ll ever come out the other side, but there is a voice inside of us that keeps saying, “You are not alone. You were never alone.”

Below is an outline of the expenses for You Were Never Alone for full transparency. What we are asking for will not cover all the expenses for YWNA, because we are investing in this idea too.  We want to join in with you to help fund this record. This is our first independent release, so we're just getting on our feet. This is not a charity.  This is a movement.  This music is ours, and we all own it.  This music is no longer limited by a business deal. It's just you and us, with nobody in between. Let's take steps to bring this music back to what it always should have been: Ours.  Thank you for joining with us!  Thank you for taking something that we created and making it your own.  Thank you for listening, for singing along with is, and for making Emery yours.  This is just the beginning!

Since we have families and so many darn kids (eight total: Ruby, Ike, June, Georgia, Eisley, Charlie, Emilie, and Carolina) our time is a very valuable resource; this record will take a lot of it, but we do NOT want to profit for making music that we love. We just want to raise enough money to cover the real expenses.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on the recording and marketing of each of our records over the last 10 years.  This time we are going to save a lot, while maintaining complete control of quality, by doing much of the work ourselves.  We love operating as a DIY team and we are excited to partner with you as we take over label work (promotion, organization, distribution), recording work (we will be largely self-producing and self-engineering), and artist work (spending the time writing and arranging and demo-ing the songs).  We all finally get to do this our way.  It’s gonna be a lot of long hours and late nights but we believe it's worthwhile. This record is gonna be great, perhaps one of our best yet. We can’t wait for you to hear this thing!

These are the estimated expenses that will go into making this record.  We are going to be damn careful with how we spend this money. Each of these costs is significantly less than on a traditional label, and again, we will be doing the legwork associated with each.

You Were Never Alone

Total Estimated Cost: $50,000

Anything we raise above the goal will be directed toward marketing, touring, and overall promotion of the record (shoot a video, etc). It’s been awhile since we toured the entire U.S., so the more backers we get, the better our chances! We’ve had a lot of fun making these packages, and we can’t wait to see who gets involved.

FAQ

Q. How do I get the downloadable songs/albums?

A. With the purchase of any of these packages, you will receive an email within 24 hours with a download link.

Q. I haven’t gotten an email with downloadable songs yet, what’s going on?

A. It may take up to 24 hours to reach you. If it’s been more than 24 hours, please email emery@badchristian.com with your concerns, and we will make sure you get the downloads.

Q. Will my card be charged today or at the end of the campaign?

A. You will be charged upon purchase.

Q. What do I do if I want multiple packages?

A. Unfortunately, at this time you will have to make separate purchases.

Q. How will you know my t-shirt size?

A. Please include t-shirt size in your name when you place your order. To make sure we have all of your sizes, we will send you a short survey sometime between now and the shipping date.

Q. How do I submit my picture to you for the album art package?

A. You will be contacted considering details of this package via email.

Q. Is the lesson with Matt 1 on 1 in-person?

A.  You will be contacted considering details of this package via email.

Q. How do I tell you what lyrics I want hand-written?

A.  You will be contacted considering details of this package via email.

Q. Who should I email the hidden message track to?

A.  You will be contacted considering details of this package via email.