Hello, My name is Martin Murray and I am a singer/songwriter from Fremont, California.
My goal is to reinvent the way musicians create a fan base, earn income, and play to crowded venues. Up until recently, a songwriter could get noticed by a major label if he was talented enough. The label would invest money up front, paying for the recordings, the distribution, the promotion, and perhaps even the tour bookings. In time, the label would then recoup their expenses and the artist would get paid only after the label made their money back. This model for music is outdated and slowly deteriorating. With the advent of the internet, file sharing, bit torrents, and peer to peer networks, a model like the one described is no longer needed. With modern technology, I can record my own music for very little money, promote it, and distribute it to thousands (potentially millions) of fans across the world from the comfort of my home. The final step is to create a fan base that no venue or booking agent can ignore, ensuring that only the best music is selected to play any given venue.
This goal begins with a mission statement. From this moment on, I do not intend on selling my music in a traditional sense any longer. Instead, my music will be available for free for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time. It is ignorant to believe that anyone can protect their copyrighted material when one considers today’s technology. It is now possible to release a song online today and by tomorrow, there could be ten million copies of the song distributed, downloaded, and shared “illegally” to listeners worldwide. I intend on embracing rather than fighting this fact.
While labels still insist that the old model can work, they are in a losing battle. Most major chain music stores have filed for bankruptcy. Even Itunes will begin to feel the pain when more people become savvy to the fact that almost any music you could ever want is available for free. A change in the world of music is coming. The days of the major labels being the primary music distributors are numbered. It is time that we as musicians, and music lovers, change with it.
In short, I am asking you to listen to my music. You can listen to my songs from my website
www.martinmurraymusic.com
or from my Myspace page:
www.myspace.com/martinmurraymusic
If you like my music, you can have it for free. You can listen to it, copy it, use it as your own, give it to your friends, exploit it, attempt to sell it, whatever you want.
As of now, I am at the beginning stages of this idea, which is to your benefit. As a way of kicking this off the ground, I am sending physical CDs to you at no cost at all. Simply visit my website, email me your name and address, and a CD of mine will arrive at your doorstep in the near future. You will find many more details through my website. Thank you for taking time to read through this and I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely, Martin Murray
P.S. I have decided that only the first 50 to respond to me in any way will receive free one physical CD without paying any shipping costs at all. Completely free!! Please respond quickly or I may not have any CDs left!
