Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club - 2009

[pegkerr]

Paul DeGeorge of Harry and the Potters has sent out the following, announcing another year of the Wizard Rock EP of the Month club:

I am happy to report that so far, we have sold over 800 subscriptions to the 2008 EP Club and together have raised $16,000 for First Book and the Harry Potter Alliance! I did all the number crunching last night and then Matt and I exchanged some exclamatory text messages. We are totally pumped about this! We beat last years earnings total by $3000 and there's still more to come! I speak for all the bands when I tell you that this is something that we accomplished together. Without your amazing and dedicated patronage, this club and many of the great recordings in your collection probably wouldn't exist, SO THANK YOU!

We still have over 150 complete sets of the 2008 EPs and now that all our expenses are paid, nearly ever dollar from those purchases will be donated to these two organizations. If we sell these remaining subscriptions, we can raise an additional $8000! If you've enjoyed the 2008 EP Club, please recommend it to your friends or purchase a full set of EPs for a loved one!

It gives me great pleasure to officially announce the 2009 Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club!!!

Subscribers will receive exclusive EPs from old and new friends such as:

Harry and the Potters
the Whomping Willows
the Moaning Myrtles
Tonks and the Aurors
Peeved
Swish and Flick
Mary and the GrandPres
Danny Dementor
Riddle^TM
MC Kreacher
Shrieking Shack Disco Gang
and one awesome surprise EP!!

This year, we are limiting the club to 750 subscriptions. Subscriptions to the general public open Monday, February 16th, so please subscribe!

You can subscribe by going to this webpage. The beneficiary of the 2009 EP of the Month Club will be the Harry Potter Alliance. We are thrilled to support an organization that is wholly dedicated to using the Harry Potter books as an inspiration for reshaping our own world. More than any other part of the Harry Potter fandom, the HPA truly exemplifies the extraordinary character and dedication of the people who make this community so special. This is quite a unique organization and the work they are doing is something that all Harry Potter fans can be proud of. We are excited to continue fundraising for them in 2009.

wizrocklopedia had some more information here:

Recently, I spoke with Paul about the past, present, and future of the EP Club.

When the EP Club started in 2007, there were over 750 subscribers, and they sold out completely. I asked Paul if this exceeded his expectations, and he told me, “This may sound a little overly-self confident, but I fully expected the first year to sell out. Wizard rock arguably reached its apex that year, particularly in the national media. We had a great roster of bands, all making exclusive CDs, and it was the year Deathly Hallows was released.”

In 2008, the number of subscriptions was increased, and so far they have sold over 800, but there are still about 200 subscriptions available. “Going into 2008, I knew we would have to work a lot harder to sell the subscriptions and that’s definitely been the case. And now in 2009, I’m more uncertain than ever about what will happen. Not because of a lack-of-interest, but more because of a very large shift in how people consume music. In just the last 2 years, digital music has completely overshadowed physical media.”

So, why not just make the EP Club available digitally? Paul thinks that something will be lost that way and describes digital downloads as “colder and more detached”. “I think we all really loved having, holding, and admiring the physical product, especially the whole set of all 12 CDs. The artwork from the first 2 years was all really gorgeous and 2009 promises to be just as great. From past experience, I think the subscribers really value the attention and care we put into the disc”. In 2009, the cases will be hand-stamped. Talk about a personal touch - hand-stamping around 10,000 CDs?

Yup, 10,000. With that number, the CDs are understandably pressed by a professional company. As Paul said, “That’s WAAAY too many CDs for us to burn. That would take all year!” Other than using Bellwether Manufacturing to create the actual CDs, the EP Club is run on a very small staff. Only two of them are paid anything at all - the mastering engineer and the art director, and Paul pays them “a small fraction of what they actually deserve.” The mastering engineer is a good friend of Paul’s and ensures that all the audio sounds great before sending it off. The art director changes every year and is in charge of creating the album covers and discface designs and sending them off to the printer. Paul deals with the general oversight and mailing. Matt Maggiacomo of The Whomping Willows helps with mailing.

There is also an opportunity to help out with promotion this year. Anyone who is interested should contact Paul at wizardrockepclub@gmail.com.

If you’ve subscribed to the EP Club in the past, you know that rather than the typical plastic jewel case, the CDs come in sturdy cardboard sleeves. These sleeves are 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper, and they come with the added bonus of being cheaper than jewel cases and also cheaper to ship. Less overhead cost means more money for the EP Club.

In 2007, all of the proceeds went to First Book. The amount totaled over $13,000. 2008’s proceeds were split between First Book and The Harry Potter Alliance, for a total of $16,000. This year, all the proceeds will go to The HP Alliance. Why the change? “Two years ago, First Book was a sensible choice because obviously all of the bands and the subscribers shared a common source: a book. That is what brought us all together, and donating money to First Book allowed us to share that gift of literature with other kids. But now, with all of the Harry Potter books published, I feel like the Harry Potter Alliance has given us a common purpose, and that is where I’m placing my hopes for the future of this community. The work of the HP Alliance not only keeps this community active and vibrant, but continues to promote the messages of love and friendship from the books by way of real world applications. I think this is something we can all be proud of.”

To choose the 12 bands each year, Paul actually looks at each and every band on the Wizrocklopedia list and then goes back and forth with Matt until they have narrowed it down. “We always want to have a few well-know bands because they help us to sell subscriptions, but we also want those artists to be people we believe in and who represent our community well. Beyond that, we look to find bands that we think are great and under-appreciated or flying below the radar. Each year we really hope to expose our subscribers to a few excellent bands that they’ve maybe never heard of before.”

So . . . worth the money? To be honest, I was rather disappointed with most of the CDs offered by the Club last year. Some were so bad I didn't even bother to download them after sampling them a bit. But there were a couple good ones I'm glad to own. I love everything I've ever heard from two of the bands featured this year, Peeved and Riddle^TM . And I like to support fledgling wizard rock bands, and I like the charitable emphasis. I thought hard about it and re-upped for next year, using a cache of money left over from my birthday last year. Hey, what can I say. I'm a fan.