Who are you and what do you want?
Hi, my name is Anna Roenigk and I write songs.
My band Born Again Virgins has been playing gigs in Austin for around 3 years and is now morphing into something slightly different. The songs on this album span from things I wrote 3 years ago to songs I have written this year. However, my project will take on a new name as I find a solo moniker- who knew "Anna Roenigk" was such a weird and unpronounceable name?
But back to the point. I am here to raise money so that I can finish recording my album with Mr. Brian Beattie. I played saxophone on several projects that Brian produced and have been a secret admirer ever since. He has worked with the likes of Okkervil River, Bill Callahan, Daniel Johnston, Sahara Smith, Shearwater, Aimee Bobruck, Lee Barber--the list goes on. We began in July and now, four months later, we are working on recording the last track of the 5 track album.
Over these past several months, I have learned that creating an album is really exciting, very anxiety-inducing, but mostly really expensive.
Because of this, I am here on the internet, asking you for your help (your love) (in the form of $)
I have 30 days to raise $5500 dollars.
But how much does this all really cost?
Brian records all the sounds, comforts me when I think things are just wrong wrong wrong, feeds me goat cheese and coffee, puts up with my often tangential speak, and then listens hours on end to my voice, over and over and over again.
This requires a lot of time and patience.
To be totally transparent:
The cost for producing one song is around 1000 dollars. There are 5 tracks on my album.
Mastering the album will cost a little over 1000 dollars.
I paid my bandmates and others that played on the album which came out to around $1800.
Disc manufacturing varies on how many copies you purchase and also how pretty you want your packaging to be. One quote I got for 300 disks was around $700-800 dollars.
All of this excludes extraneous fees such as paying my great videographer Illyana Bocanegra (who made my campaign video) and also the incredible amount of money it takes to promote an album (which I will mostly be doing in the DIY fashion without a publicist).
I have already paid my bandmates and half of the production cost, but I need to pay for mastering, the other half of the production fee, and still have enough money to print copies of the album.
My pledge goal is $5500. It is a lot of money. It would not cover all my expenses, but it would be just enough for me to finish making the album and having money in order to print copies.
Why should I even care?
Because I'll give you treats!
But to be serious, I don't have a record label and so I am paying for this project "out of pocket."
In all honesty, asking for money is really difficult and uncomfortable and I wish I could provide you with more interesting perks that I have seen on other campaigns such as "making you dinner" or "teaching you yoga," but i'm pretty sure that would be more of a punishment than a reward.
So instead I give you some basic options-- donating $10 and pre-ordering a digital copy of the album, $20 and pre-ordering a CD, and $400 for a house show. If you don't want any of these things but wish to donate, you can hit the "back it" button and enter any amount!
I really do appreciate everyone who has supported me over these past years. Your kindness and enthusiasm is what makes it easier to keep going and trudge through the difficult days.
If you cannot donate money I understand. I only ask that you share this with your friends, your mom, or your rich uncle.
Thank you so much again,
Anna
