Mammoth Project tour?

[ewt]

Okay. So. Mammoth Project = big open source music project thing. We want to offer:
-free mp3s, with the option of buying a CD with higher-quality sound (pick-n-mix tracks for CD, blah blah blah)
-free sheet music, with the option of buying a printed copy on high-quality paper

i don't want to offer anything to buy that cannot be downloaded for free in some format from the site; none of this "first 20 seconds of a track" nonsense. I want some of the profits to go to charity once we've got the site up and running. I want the contributing artists to be compensated for anything by them that is bought, and also to receive a share of donations to the site.

The biggest dififculty with this is going to be getting a good stock of material for the site. We need quality and we also need quantity. It won't work if it's just a pile of my own compositions. The other thing we'll need is quite a bit of word-of-mouth publicity.

I'm wondering about doing a tour of Canada in Summer 2007 - I'd take some time out to visit my parents, but basically spend the summer going from place to place, recording independent bands, trying to build popularity for the site, and so on. Most sensible way to do it in terms of flights would be to start on the West coast and work my way East.

If this is going to happen, I'll need:
-local helpers in each city I visit (I need accomodation, and also people who can help organise events like concerts)
-lots of contacts with bands/groups/composers/etc who would like the site and be willing to contribute their work
-funds to pay for travel, food, my rent back in London, and some publicity materials. This is going to be the hardest bit, I think.

We'll also need to start serious work on the project in January, rather than having the idea and sitting around with it as we've been doing so far.

Ideas? Obvious problems? Questions? Volunteers?

Comments

[yady.livejournal.com]

Can you let people you know and trust use your London house while you are gone and let them pay the rent for that period? It's just a random thought that popped into my head and I don't know if it'd work out time- and money-wise for me, and of course I'd *prefer* visiting London while you are actually around, but I could see myself doing a week or two of London and would much rather give my money to you than to a hotel.

[horngirl.livejournal.com]

If I can help out with this, I will. Not sure how, since I'm probably further away than Canada down here, but the offer's there if you can think of anything :-)