It was only a little over a year ago that Moncton-based singer-songwriter Jared Lutes released his last record, When We Grow Younger. The 15 months since that record’s release have seen a flurry of activity for Jared. In addition to welcoming a little bundle of joy into the world, Jared has been performing virtually non-stop from one corner of the province to another.
His prolific live appearances have, perhaps not surprisingly, resulted in a wealth of new material being written. Jared has produced and recorded six of the tracks for a new EP, A Matter of When, to be released a little later this year. Stating that these newest songs are among the most introspective and personal that he has written, Jared feels good about where his music career is leading him.
“I’ve been writing with renewed vigour over this last year,” Jared says. “I truly feel as though this batch of six songs represents the best of that most recent crop of new material.
“All of the songs have been written over the course of the last 10 months and so they illustrate a succinct picture of where I am in music and life right now. Generally speaking, the songs describe themes of coming home from the road, working toward a better life, leaving the past behind, and the joys and anxieties of a growing family.”
When Jared’s new record will see release is another question. To help expedite the release of the record, Jared has launched a crowd-funding campaign with a rather modest goal of $1,000.
Crowd-funding campaigns tend to come in all shapes and sizes. Ultimately, the goals of any campaign are dictated by the resources already available versus what is needed. Campaigns launched by many other acts include all costs associated with making a record: the production, recording, post production and manufacturing.
With the luxury of recording at home on his side, the costs accumulated by Jared thus far for birthing A Matter of When have actually been relatively minimal. In fact, the $1,000 goal he has set is merely to cover the costs of manufacturing physical product to sell off stage.
Jared says he carefully weighed his options with respect to selling music digitally and selling physical product.
“A solely digital release would incur much less in the way of expenses. In my experience though, CD sales still comprise a significant amount of revenue for me. So it just makes sense that I would choose to go this route with my next release.
“Up to this point though, I have managed to pay every guest musician in full, struck generous commission deals with my own band, paid for many writing critiques and professional mix evaluations, and have covered studio time, gear and food whenever necessary. If I can keep this final packaging cost around $1,000, I will actually begin to turn a profit after about 200 units sold. Every detail of this process has been carefully weighed and considered. I do believe that I’m on the right track though.”
Naturally, Jared is appreciative of any and all donations that the public is willing to make towards helping him realize his next effort. Depending on the amount contributed, Jared has built-in “rewards” as a means of thanking those who care to donate their money. Items up for grabs include t-shirts, personal thanks and, of course, music.
“I think the biggest obstacle to motivating potential contributors is that they assume that crowd-funding is merely a charity drive. I feel that it is more accurately described as a ‘pre-sale’ – where fans put up cash for merchandise that will be available very soon. But of course the pre-sale has the added effect of getting the whole CD off the ground, while also generating some awareness around the artist and the product.”
To contribute to Jared’s crowd-funding campaign, visit www.rockethub.com/37270. Jared’s campaign in benefit of A Matter of When runs until Jan. 20.
Article published in the January 10, 2013 edition of the Times & Transcript