February 1, 2014

**UPDATE** Kickstarter for an Original Album Coming THIS FALL!

**UPDATED ON JUNE 19th, 2014** Hi everyone, just wanted to give a quick update since a lot of you had been asking about this which I really appreciate, and I wanted to keep you informed on my plans. I am actually planning to run this Kickstarter this fall either in August or September. I wanted to wait until I released another original song, Awakening, because I figured that would give people an even better idea as to what to expect from my original album. I’m just going to leave the rest of the original post below but I wanted to let you guys know what was going on, thanks so much for the interest in this!

(original post below)
Hi everyone! I’ve been doing a lot of planning this month to prepare for a Kickstarter for my first original album and I wanted to give you some insight as to why I’m choosing to use this platform to try and fund this album. If you guys aren’t familiar with Kickstarter, you can read a short summary of it by clicking HERE. I released my first original song “Nebulous” along with a music video about 6 months ago, and I was so grateful to read so many positive reactions to it and to hear that you wanted me to release more originals! Because I’m still a completely independent musician, I’m very cautious about where I invest my resources because I want to make sure that I can continue working as a musician for as long as I possibly can! So after I released Nebulous, I wanted to wait and see how many people liked Nebulous enough to download it before I released more original music. While I’m incredibly happy and proud of how Nebulous turned out, I still actually haven’t made back the production costs that I invested in making both the audio and video (so far I’ve sold about 700 downloads over the last 6 months). Even though I really enjoy working on original songs (I’ve already actually composed but not fully produced a few others) it would make me nervous to invest in an entire album of original music based on those sales without knowing that enough people would be interested in supporting it.

That’s why I feel that Kickstarter is a perfect way to try and fund this album because if enough people are interested to purchase my original album on Kickstarter before it’s release, then I will be thrilled to work on it and finish by August this year! I keep seeing more and more comments and receive a lot of messages from people asking me to release more originals, and I take what you guys say very seriously so hopefully enough of you are really interested in this! Since I’m just trying to cover my most basic costs for producing an album, I’ve structured my rewards in such a way that they’re almost exactly what you would end up paying for a product in my Store. However, to make this Kickstarter more special and interesting I’ve decided to include a lot of unique things that I don’t offer in my Store like personalized signed albums, limited edition signed photos, a custom USB drive loaded with my album in a lossless file format and videos, a personalized thank-you video, special edition t-shirt and more! Since I’m still managing everything myself, it’s really difficult for me to figure out an easy way to offer those types of things regularly in my Store, so I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity for me to offer those items as part of the Kickstarter in a way that I can actually manage since a lot of people already request those things!

Kickstarter Details
I’m setting my goal at $18,000 because this will cover the production costs for 12 songs including recording time/equipment, mixing/mastering, professional album photography and artwork, physical album production, and additional shipping/supply costs. If I’m fortunate enough to receive anything above and beyond the $18,000, that will all go towards making new music videos for my YouTube channel and tour costs for my upcoming shows this year. My goal with this is to eliminate the financial risk of completely funding an album by myself since I’m not sure that enough people are interested in my music.

+ show Comments

- Hide Comments

add a comment

Hi, I'm Taylor,
your music career guide!

I’ve been a violinist for over 25 years and for over the past 10 years I’ve been building my skills and career as an independent musician. Within that time I’ve grown an online audience of over 3 million people, released 11 full-length albums (5 of which charted on the Billboard Charts) and traveled the world touring my own live show, all without ever signing with a record label. One of my greatest passions is helping other musicians learn and grow from my own knowledge and experiences through my Musician of All Trades courses.

  1. Evan says:

    Any update on when the kickstart page will be up? We’re all eager for it to get up, I can’t wait to hear an original album from you!

  2. Sunnydragon127 says:

    I just wanted you to know i would sapport you anytime and i love all of your songs and i’m pretty sure i will sapport any other albums or songs that come out. Thanks for giving me encouradgement. God bless you!

  3. Paul says:

    I really never heard of you until the other day. You are a seriously accomplished musician. I immediately downloaded your single Nebulous. It was great look forward to many more.

  4. Joshua B. says:

    I’ll definitely support you Taylor! I’m a very big fan of your work and have been inspired by your music on many occasions. Why not return the favor to you now?

    God bless!

  5. Shawn says:

    How did the KickStarter project go? Can we expect new music in Aug? Sorry, just this and its closed and could not find anything on the website:(

  6. Jeff Rutter says:

    New to your music, sounds promising but will need to hear more…..we will see..

  7. Brandon Gangemi says:

    Taylor,

    I truly hope this is still an avenue you are pursuing. You play wonderfully and as much as I love the arrangements you play from some of my favourite games/movies, I would love even more to hear more of your original pieces. You have my full support if you follow through with this and if you need any additional help marketing this north of the border, I would be happy to be part of your Canadian `Street Team`!

    Take care and God bless,
    Brandon

  8. Jacky says:

    Hi!
    I really like your music and I love Nebolous. I am really exited for you relising your new and very own album; you are going to be great.
    I am going to hear it many times I love your music
    Wish you the best

  9. Ivana says:

    Hello!
    I am exited for your new album and I am going to hear your beautiful and awsome songs
    I love you so much, good luck and I wish you to be very succesful

  10. Lindsey, my husband introduced me to you after discussing various orchestrated pieces and musicians (most of the geeky representation) and I was really taken with how you’ve been able to change styles of well known pieces so effectively and beautifully and still maintain their recognition quite well! Lord willing, I’m really excited to see what you have in store for an original album! Let’s make this happen!

    All the best!
    Leslie

  11. Ivan Olarte says:

    Taylor, I stumbled on your titanic cover last night and since then I looked for more videos from you… I must congratulate you on not only the beautiful music that you are able to convey, but also on what I see as a successful career path for you.

    I wish you all the best in your endeavors, you are clearly doing what you love, you are very talented, have a charming personality, and you are being very smart in how you are making this a viable career.

    You certainly have my support.

    Warm regards,
    Ivan Olarte
    http://ivanolarte.comο»Ώ

  12. Jim says:

    Count me in

  13. Jeremy says:

    Sweet πŸ˜€ I’m looking forward to hearing your first original album, will be happy to help contribute!

    • Jeremy says:

      Oy.. I just realized the post is a month old =/ Would’ve loved to help contribute but regardless I look forward to hearing your future original works in addition to your new covers πŸ™‚ Love your music Taylor

  14. Audra says:

    I would also contribute. Love your music.

  15. Zack says:

    I look forward to in, I will happily put money toward funding this…please keep us in the loop πŸ˜€

  16. Bryce says:

    More excellent music, you say? You have my sword! Can’t wait to contribute to your project!

  17. kim says:

    count me in ! πŸ™‚

  18. I would love to support this cause, but I don’t have a card to pay with or anything… πŸ™

    It sounds great though! I hope it works out, all the best of luck!

  19. Josh says:

    Just wanted to stop by and say I am all in! I hope this works out as I love your music and have your newest CD coming in the mail!

  20. Alex Molter says:

    Taylor love your music and video. You really have a gift and it’s neat you are sharing your gift to the world. I’m sure you have been asked this before but, have you thought of putting the music video you do on YouTube on iTunes. When I bought you latest album I was trying to look in iTunes for music videos but could not find them. Got to find a way to sell the music Videos on iTunes or even Amazon. Keep up the great work and can’t wait to see you in concert this year.

  21. Taylor Hellar says:

    Hi Taylor,

    You do a beautiful job playing the violin. I find it humorous that we have the same name and were born the same year; the world is a smaller place than many believe. Gladiator’s “Now We are Free” has always been one of my favorite musical pieces and I’ve listened to your rendition over and over again; it is legendary. I wish you all the best and hope your career rockets forward to wherever you want it to take you.

  22. farnaz says:

    Hi taylor.my name is farnaz from iran.i’m13.i love you so much.look i love your song(nebulous)it’s very magical.taylor
    5 months ago i saw you my mother and my cusin(Negar)are very like you.i started violin 6 month ago but i’m not good at it like you.i want to play your song nebuluos but i can’t buy the sheet music please send it to me by email and please aswere these questins:
    1.when is your birthday?
    2.How many brothers and sisters do you have?
    3.do you exercise?
    4.Do have any free time?
    5.how much do you like me?
    6.Where do you live?
    please keep in tuoch with me and send email to me.please please please love you
    bye FARNAZ

  23. PhilT says:

    Looking forward to supporting the album. In the meanwhile I’ll have time to enjoy my freshly ordered Melodies of Hyrule signed by a wonderfully talented violinist. πŸ™‚

  24. DJBully says:

    If all your Twitter followers just pledged $3.00 each, goal would be REACHED!

  25. DJBully says:

    Great news! Definitely on board to support your project. Enjoying your covers and hope much success for more of your original work! Bow on!!!!

    • Taylor says:

      Thank you I appreciate it! Haha yea that would be awesome to have even a fraction of my social media followers in on it for $1 but I’m sure no matter what it’ll all work out πŸ™‚

  26. Robert Neve says:

    I look forward to it. I have zero musical talent but as I have said before any web dev related stuff I can own at πŸ™‚

    • Taylor says:

      Thank you Robert! Well hey, I don’t have any web development talent haha so we all have our own special talents that are equally as important!

  27. Erik says:

    I love Nebulous. I think it’s really awesome seeing you branch out into your personal style and interests.

    You should come up with a clever way to announce your kickstarter campaign, along with nifty rewards, beyond just a physical cd. The most successful kickstarters seem to have limited edition swag–t-shirts etc.

    Maybe you can get some other youtubers to announce your campaign too! I’d love to see your campaign be successful!

    • Taylor says:

      Thanks Erik, yea I’m really hoping it’ll be successful because I already have a lot of songs at least partially produced but I could really get it to the next level with this. I’m definitely offering pretty much only limited edition stuff besides of course just a digital download and physical cd. I’m going to offer personalized signed albums/photographs/postcards, etc., a limited edition t-shirt, a custom USB drive loaded with the album in a lossless file format plus a custom thank-you video, etc so all of it is going to be stuff that I don’t currently offer in my store so hopefully people will like that πŸ™‚

  28. Cryothemes says:

    This sounds amazing and I’ll definitely be funding you once you start off the project on kickstarter πŸ˜€ Keep Us Updated πŸ˜€

  29. John M says:

    Hey Taylor, Kickstarter sounds interesting. I’ll have to research that for my own information. Helping to support your 1st original album would be a great pleasure. Your talent and the emotions you impart in your playing are simply wonderful. You can count on me to help as I am able. I look forward to it.

    • Taylor says:

      Thanks a lot John, that’s very nice of you to say! Yes definitely check out Kickstarter and if you have questions just let me know. It’s a really unique platform for getting projects funded. What I really like about it is I can offer whatever types of rewards I want and products I currently can’t offer in my store because with Kickstarter, people commit to buying things in advance before I have to order them, so I’ll know exactly what I need to order and in what quantity ahead of time so it really eliminates a lot of the financial risk for me while still getting you guys unique products! πŸ™‚

  30. Nathan Ridling says:

    +1 that count for Nebulous. I never got around to picking it up. πŸ™‚ I am very happy to hear you are wanting to do an original album. I will offer as much financial support as I can.

  31. Yarrow says:

    Looking forward to chipping in to something I know will be amazing. πŸ™‚ How exciting! x

  32. Michael leopard says:

    I’m in. Perfect way to get the original album out. So much win.

  33. Brad Davis says:

    Eagerly awaiting for the campaign to go live. Ever since you first mentioned you may do this, I have been hoping for it. Yay!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Β  * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.