The Julie/Julia Music Project - Day 1

Happy 2010!

50 new songs. 5 album releases. 100 gigs. 1000 CDs sold. 365 days. There will no doubt be spelling mistakes...

Okay, so I spent the holidays with my mom and sister as always, and we watched Julie & Julia. Loved it!

Inspired, I've decided to do my own version. It's obviously about music, not food, so instead of cooking 524 recipes in 365 days, I've decided to write 50 new songs, release 5 albums, perform 100 gigs, and sell 1000 CDs in a year. It's a huge challenge for me (I'm not Madonna yet), but I decided it would be good for my music career.

This is what I'll endeavour to do:

1. Blog each day (massive technological difficulties and EMPs notwithstanding) - if I'm unable I will make it up the next day...

2. Write 50 new songs, which basically means one a week - failing which I will have to do two or three in a week if I fall behind... (do I hear excuses from myself already?)

3. Release 5 albums - I have been reading about fellow musos like the Beatles, the Stones and Elton John and KISS - they sometimes released as many as four albums a YEAR! My plan is cheating a bit:
a. Some of my albums will be covers.
b. Some of my albums are co-writes (with already existing songs).
c. I'm not doing this through a major label - yet...
d. More about the various albums and songs in days to come...

4. Perform 100 gigs. Paid, free, charity, don't mind - as long as I reach my goal... But preferably paid!

5. Sell 1000 CDs - this feels like a challenge, but hey, my two major income streams at this point would be gigs and CD sales. Some people would say, "A thousand! Is that all? WIMP!"

It's not a new idea, of course - Jonathan Coulton did it back in 2006, writing a song a week for a year, very successfully, and there must be at least a million other bloggers out there doing the same thing, but what the hell, right?

All of this will be over and above my "day job," which I'm very happy to say is not as dreary as Julie Powell's was. While not blogging/composing/releasing/singing/selling, I will continue teaching music business courses at MBAC and Soul Candi, and continue teaching singing students. That alone is a great reason to get out of bed each morning!

So: 364 days to go.

Till tomorrow then...