THE BATTLE

It's the end of week 8 in the 10,000 project and whilst I know as well as everyone else how time flies, it is really hard to believe that I am two thirds of the way through the project!  There have been a series of highs and lows over the last few weeks and sometimes easier to avoid updating the blog than having to try and condense it all into a few paragraphs..

For those of you only coming to the blog for the first time, 10,000 is the title of my debut EP, officially released on August 10th and it is also the title of the project I have created to make the release a little more interesting and successful. The overall concept is to bring the EP to the attention of 10,000 people through 10 smaller experiments. All of it is inspired by Thomas Edison who said "I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that don't work." For me, success in the music industry is all about having great music and great ideas and of course luck. I have faced the fact that having a lot of money is going to buy opportunities regardless of the standard of what I produce. I am not in a position to buy my way in so I have to think of other ways of building interest and support for my music. This project has its supporters and it's critics. That's how it should be..

Here are the 10 experiements and a little update on them:

1. 1,000 SALES - There were 200 pre-orders of the EP before it went on sale as a download last Friday. I spent the last few days of last week getting those 200 out (post and deliveries) but have no idea yet how many have been downloaded since the release on Friday as the sales reports take a week or two to process. I sold an additional 10 physical copies since Friday. Long way to go so will have my work cut out for me to really sell hard at gigs, on the road etc..

2. 1,000 KILOMETRES - Currently stands at 250kilometres. This experiment got off to a start two days ago when I travelled to Clonmel to gig at the Clonmel Busking Festival. We drove down in the evening and came back up afterwards as I had a wedding to play at on Saturday afternoon. With a gig in Dublin tonight and a visit to Cork and Wexford this week, I am confident we will have reached 1,000 kilometres travelled by next weekend. It is important to note that it is essential to make the most of the distance travelled by advertising the project as we go. I am going to organise branding of the vehicle we are travelling in with the 10,000 info to make the most of every 'traffic' opportunity. I have also organised flyers to hand out along the way and at stop offs etc..

3. 1,000 LIVE AUDIENCE - Currently stands at 230. This experiment only kicked into action at my London Olympics gig last week when I performed in Olympic Park on the Bandstand/Spectator Experience. It is difficult to put an exact figure on the audience but to say there were 150 people is a very fair amount. I got to perform all tracks off my EP and was my very first gig in the UK so it was a good start. We did a headcount of 80 people on Friday night when I performed in Eldons Bar in Clonmel. 

4. 1,000 NEW FACEBOOK LIKES - My singer/songwriter page on FB had 840 'likes' when I started the project. It currently stands at just '868', an increase of 28, which is a disaster really. I have found myself posting less and less on my page when I should be posting more I suppose but the FB page 'posts' policy changed just I began this project and it may be a case that the only way to achieve this target is to pay to advertise my posts. I hope to achieve it by genuine interest and support so hopefully over the two weeks of the tour I can build on thisfigure and then see where I stand in the last 2 weeks of the project.

5. 1,000 NEW TWITTER FOLLOWERS - Currently at 230 on this experiment. On twitter, you notice that spam twitter accounts start following you and just as quickly unfollow you. There are also ways and means of getting yourself instant followers. A lot depends on how much time you spend on Twitter making contact and asking for RT's. I know I haven't been giving it sufficent time every day although I also want to build this up through genuine interest and support and I am still confident it can be achieved in the time frame.

6. 1,000 BROADCAST MINUTES - Currently stands at over 500 mins. (around 520 mark) This experiment really has renewed my support of some Irish radio stations who really do all they can to support new Irish music and it was the experiment that concerned many people in the industry who gave me feedback when I launched it. As a member of IASCA, I am very aware of the debates that Irish radio does not support it's own independent acts. This is very true of some of the bigger stations. However, the good news is that there are lots of community, regional and local stations who are only too happy to introduce new music, playlist it and or organise interviews with you! To know that since the launch of this project, I am well over half way there to 1,000 broadcast minutes is something I am really proud of!

Thanks to Kildare TV who added to that figure this week:
KILDARE TV INTERVIEW

7. 1,000 WORDS PUBLISHED - This target was reached by the second week of the project and continues to generate interest. I will do a final total of words publised at the end of the project to see how much it was surpassed by.

8. 1,000 FACES - Lots of work being done on this as we speak now that the tour is underway. I have about 900 faces to photograph over the next 4 weeks!!! The good news is that some large groups of people have expressed an interest in getting involved so going to be out in force hopefully taking the photos of sports teams, dance groups, knitting classes etc etc.. It's a lot of fun and looking forward to getting stuck in!

9. 1,000 ARTISTS - I made a decision to delay all work on this until the tour is over. There is a lot of time invoved in this one and will need a clean few weeks, where I am not on the road or preparing a release. It has been started but I felt it important to tackle it all in one go at a later stage in the project!

10. 1,000 YOUTUBE SUBSCRIPTIONS - I actually don't know what to say about this one. I really wish I had chosen something else!!!!.Not being an active youtuber I think I got this one very wrong. However, I know that with some thought and some creative ideas, it may be an experiment I can find a solution too...


Well that's the project up to date! There are some flourishing experiments and some failing.. I have put myself under a lot of pressure, which some days I find overwhelming. However, I am stubborn, possibly unrealistic at times. While I use my head the odd time, I follow my heart mostly. Only time will tell which of the two have the greater impact..

Till next time, thanks for reading xx