Jamie Kent

Dearest fans, friends, and family,

I’ve waited a while to tell you this. I’ve danced around the subject in just about every blog post, teased and tantalized, hinted and flirted; yet finally, the time has come for me to unleash the idea that I’ve been working on for the last 3-4 months! Are you ready…?

Drum roll please…The Collective launches December 1st!

Two days ago, December 1st, I launched The Collective, my solution to an evolving music industry and the constantly asked question, “how does one support themselves as an independent musician?” In essence, The Collective will be an active community of my most loyal fans, friends, and advisors who will support my career from day one, and reap the greatest returns from its growth. Partners in The Collective provide financial support and creative consultation in return for free access to exclusive cuts of my music, live performances, the coolest merchandise, and even private Collective parties, shows and events.

There are all different levels of partnership, but say for example, you decided to buy a “Savvy Partnership” in The Collective for $100. You would get free access to all my music, free access to any shows of mine, an awesome “Founding Partner” t-shirt, and a signed limited edition of “The Collective EP”. Sounds pretty cool, right? Furthermore, you’d get access to a protected part of my website where I ask you all questions such as “Where should I tour?” “What should the order of my songs be on this album?”, “Which artwork do you like better” and so on. This is also the part of my website where I’ll post the music, videos, etc…exclusively for you, the Partner. In fact, there are two exclusive videos and a questions waiting for you right now…

As a somewhat random aside, I toyed with the idea of “profit sharing” for a while, but after getting the advice of many a lawyer, it became clear that the SEC would not be down with that idea, and would cause many expensive problems. Furthermore, I investigated the practices of various Co-ops and a site called sellaband.com, and found out that most of the customers of these places actually preferred receiving something tangible (i.e. a cool shirt or signed CD), as opposed to a check for $4.35 once a year. With both of those things in mind, I dropped the profit sharing and increased the tangible benefits of becoming a Partner. What do you think of that? Does that ring true with and make sense to you? I’d really like to hear your thoughts.

Anyway, for a complete rundown on The Collective, simply scroll up and click “The Collective” (or just click it here:p). From this page you’ll get a clear and concise breakdown of the benefits/costs of each partnership level, my long term vision for The Collective, and an awesome FAQ page with even more info!

So what do ya say?

Now that I’ve put that all on the table, I guess it’s time to ask that question you’re all probably expecting by now anyway. Would you be willing to Partner with me to turn this dream into a reality? You are all my closest friends, family, and fans, and I would love to share in this journey with you. I know times are tough, and so I totally understand if you’d prefer to just buy the CD when it comes out, or come to an occasional show. But if you can, and if you believe in what I’m doing and in my ability to rock the world with my music, I would love so much for you to become a Partner in The Collective and share in the dream.

Thanks so much to all of you for your support so far. It’s been a truly awesome ride, and I can’t wait to see where the journey takes us. Should you happen to share this email/my music with all of your friends, parents, colleagues, pets, etc…I would love you forever (though I probably will anyway). That said, I will conclude with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

With lots of love,
Jamie