About
The first year of the Wyoming Singer-Songwriter Competition has wrapped up and now comes the fun part: putting it all out there!
The aim of this fundraiser is documentation, and our documentation goal has two primary objectives:
1) Record or collect recordings from every song from the competition for digital archives (to go into a museum some day, along with photographs, videos, etc).
2) To professionally record and compile a multi-disc compilation album including at least one song from every contestant and also the top songs from each round. This catalog of songs will start populating an ongoing Wyoming Singer-Songwriters collection that can be found on Spotify and other digital media channels (hello world!).
Here are some examples, top songs from the final round of the competition: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK6SI6-H...
We have lined up professional recording studios in Casper and Laramie ready to record the songs that these contestants performed. At a basic level we will capture ALL competition songs. For the songs chosen for the compilation, we will take multiple recordings and carefully mix down and master the final versions. All of this will be professionally released with lyrics and photographs. We are planning multiple avenues for recording including live takes before a crowd during promotional events. These will be fun events, and this will be a fun project, and everyone who has been involved thus far can attest that this effort will produce a truly great body of work that the world needs to hear.
If we surpass our goal, additional funds will go towards professional recordings of every competition round at future events. We will also be able to make professionally mixed recordings of all songs from the event, as opposed to just one for the compilation, with two other rougher recordings for documentation purposes.
Wyoming Singer-Songwriters is Nonprofit Corporation registered with the state of Wyoming and currently awaiting 501(C)(3) status from the IRS. All rights to the written songs will be retained with the artist, however we will have rights to publish the recordings with the compilation so that the whole collection can be sold (very reasonably) without parsing out fractions of royalties to a large number of individuals. Also, we will happily allow the artists to publish any recordings they make themselves. We have promised from the start to make this effort most beneficial the incredible singer-songwriters across Wyoming
Risks and challenges
The risks of the project we think are minimal. The competition provides an avenue to showcase music that might not otherwise other reach an audience (or such a wide audience). Contestants who do not win may feel disappointed in the outcome, but as with any competition the motivation to improve and showcase your talent is often more important than winning. This compilation effort is a way for us to ensure that everyone who competes is going to win.
