Sic Semper Tyrannis

Abondoned Ideas Volume 3

Back in the days when I was in the band Grandpa Griffith I had a fleeting glimpse of marketing genius.

Some background: When you self-finance an album, it actually costs about the same amount of money to make 1000 copies of your album as it does to make 500 copies. You wind up with boxes and boxes of CDs that, unless you're Kid Rock, will probably remain unsold, resting very safely in your closet for the rest of your life.

(If I ever move out of my house to another one at some point in the next two to sixty years, I will have to face a pretty big decision--namely, do I even bother to move all of these boxes of _Electric Scooter Holiday Blowout_ and _Jay_? Maybe I should place them on the curb for the garbagemen or leave them in the closet for the next homeowner or renter to discover, like a rare archaeological find...)

Back in the day, I thought a good way of selling the album, (besides the tried-and-true hard work of playing a lot of shows and developing an audience, etc.), would be to take a cue from the Girl Scouts and sell them like so many boxes of thin mints.

Stake a claim by a busy roadway, (I always had the corner of NW Expressway and Meridian in my head), make some signs and play an all-day marathon concert to draw drivers' attention.

Those CDs would sell like Straford Peaches! In my head, at least.

posted by Mike @ 10:30 AM