Many Many Thanks

I'd like to take this moment to thank all of the people who have supported Saunders Street in 2009. Without you, I would not be able to realize so many of my dreams. I thank God for the bounty of blessings I've experienced this year. I wish everyone the best 2010 can bring for you. May all of your dreams be realized.

Holiday Songwriter Showcase

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — December 8 2009 — Saunders Street Records (SSR) announces our first Holiday Party and Showcase. We are proudly partnering with Cafe Cedar in lovely Parkville, MO to put on a celebration of food, music and merry making. The event will be held on December 20, 2009 from 2pm - 6pm. Cafe Cedar is located at 2 East 2nd Street, Parkville. Visit Cafe Cedar's website at www.cafecedar.com. They specialize in Mediterranean cuisine but also offer amazing traditional American dishes.

The showcase will be headlined by Heather Thornton. Her Christmas CD will be showcased and available for purchase. This is the first project where Heather recorded and produced the entire project from concept to manufacturing. Also performing will be Hannah Shuler & Johnathan Aldrich of the Night Owls, William Saunders, Nicki Scruggs, Josh FitzGerald, and more.

Admission is free. Prizes will be given away to registered guests during the show.

"Chasing Daylight" Now Available

Saunders Street Records Announces Release of "Chasing Daylight"

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — November 23, 2009 — Saunders Street Records (SSR) announces the release of William Saunders' 4th indie album "Chasing Daylight". This album featuring 12 compositions that were written, arranged, performed, recorded and produced by William Saunders. The album also features additional guitar performances from Kansas City guitarist Brian Ruskin and Kansas City saxophonist Scott Hoskins.

SSR is offering two (2) editions: The standard CD and the Deluxe Edition. The Deluxe package is signed by the artist and includes exclusive behind-the-scenes studio notes, exclusive photos and additional content. Both albums are currently available via the SSR website:

http://www.saundersstreetrecords.com

Online sales via Itunes, Rhapsody, Amazon.com, Napster and emusic will be available in early December.

Saunders Street Records Announces exclusive royalty sharing program for Parents who are Facebook Friends/Fans

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — October 29, 2008 — Saunders Street Records (SSR) announces that with the release of William Saunders' 4th indie album "Chasing Daylight", a new profit (royalty) sharing program will be launched. The purpose of this program is to fund educational opportunities for children of parents who are either Facebook Friends or Fans of either William Saunders, Heather Thornton or Saunders Street Records, as well as draw attention to music education. Drawing for program selection will occur on November 8, 2009 at 7:00 pm cst.

Synopsis -- All proceeds from online sales of "Chasing Daylight" via Itunes, Rhapsody, Imusic, Napster, Amazon.com, etc. will be disbursed to 12 selected Facebook Friends, "Save the Music" Foundation, and the artist. The breakdown of percentage is:

• 50% Facebook Friend/Fan Pool
• 30% Save the Music
• 20% the Artist

12 nominated children (& their parents) will be chosen to participate in the program from those that request participation.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE -- In order to be considered "qualified" for this program, you must have a child or children of ages (4 - 16) and be a Facebook Friend or Fan of either William Saunders or Heather Thornton or Saunders Street Records.

You must post a wall request for consideration on the Saunders Street Records Facebook Page or send a message to William Saunders via Facebook. All requests for participate must be made before November 7, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. cst.

Parents must give their word that if selected the monies obtained will be used for educational purposes only and/or music education purposes.

If selected you will need to obtain a PayPal account so that disbursements can be made. Disbursements will be made on a semi-annual basis to the PayPal accounts for a span of 8 years.
You are encouraged to solicit family and friends to purchase "Chasing Daylight" online to support your child's education expenses.

Chasing Daylight is an instrumental album suitable for all listening ages and music tastes.


For further information, please email SSR at info@saundersstreetrecords.com

2010 Development Courses Pilot Program Announced

Know of any emerging musical artists that are wanting to empower themselves to either: 1) Be in the drivers seat of their own career or 2) want to educate themselves about the industry and the possibilities to avoid being take advantage of.

If so, we are looking for no more than 10 participants for a pilot program that will feature the key education opportunities from SSR.

The initial Pilot Program is comprised of several different course modules, training opportunities and other networking opportunities. All of these items will be offered on a ala carte basis in 2010. However, for pilot and trial purposes, they have been bundled together as a single offering. The following are the core course components:

• Organizational Skills for the Working Musician/Musical Artist
• Project Management for Musicians
• Decision Making
• Strategic Planning
• Web Strategies
• Music Business Fundamentals


In addition to the core components, you will have an opportunity to participate in special one-on-one training and follow-up (3 complimentary hours). This is called Career Coaching and it can be likened to working with a physical trainer, but for a music career. The principle is to employ positive reinforcement with motivating techniques that help you build and stick to good habits and plans.

You will notice we use the word “coaching” rather than instruction. It is our philosophy that learning requires more bi-directional feedback and we aim to “coach” you to new levels of achievement, not just teach to you.

Lastly, as a member of this inaugural class, you will be invited to a graduation dinner where members will have the opportunity to perform.

If you know anyone who might be interested have them email SSR at info@saundersstreetrecords.com

2010 Opportunities

The start of the new year will present several opportunities for local Kansas City music performers and enthusiasts. I'm making these opportunities known to blog subscribers, Facebook fans and friends and Saunders Street email list members initially. Formal advertising and message posting will begin in early January. I will be looking for the following:

1. Street Team Members - KC metro area applicants sought

• Overview -- Music enthusiasts and artists seeking opportunities to make extra income can do so by becoming a Saunders Street Team Member. Members provide flyers and business cards to talented artists and bands, distribute free and for sale music, write music critiques and reviews, write artist comparisons (who do they sound like) and help with SSR functions and events. Includes free music business training classes. Income is activity based.
• Qualifications -- Must possess adequate knowledge of KC area venues and familiarity with multiple genres. Must have a good work ethic and follow through. Must enjoy social settings.

2. Sales Professional - KC metro area

• Overview -- SSR will be looking for a career minded music professional to perform the following: work with other industry professionals, develop new talent, manage a territory of business opportunities, manage projects and programs and coordinate organizational functions.
• Qualifications -- Sales and/or Marketing experience preferred. Must have a working knowledge of basic music industry roles and practices. Familiarity with the various KC area music scenes is required. Negotiating skills, computer skills, and organization skills are also required.
  

3. Female Singers and/or Singer Songwriters - 3 categories available - Development, Production, and Performance

• Development -- To qualify for the development program (education & training, coaching, recording and performance opportunities) the artist must possess a coach-able attitude, be free of conflicts of interest and demonstrate a genuine desire to have a viable music career. Must be able to have a performance draw of 20+ people within 4 months from entering the program.
  
• Production -- To qualify for SSR production the artist requirements are: a) a sustainable performance draw or 30-40+ people; b) at least 25 original compositions; and c) the ability to support sales through regional touring.
• Performance -- SSR will have at least 3 large venue showcases in 2010. Signed and unsigned artists can participate by entering into a performance agreement. Once contracts are in place with the venue, SSR will solicit affiliate and non-affiliate performers to fill the available bill. Non-affliliate performers must be capable of a performance draw of 70+ people.

4. Commercially viable alt pop/alt rock or otherwise unique artists and bands -- 2 categories available - Production and Performance

• Production -- To qualify for SSR production the artist/band requirements are: a) a sustainable performance draw or 30-40+ people; b) at least 30 original compositions; and c) the ability to support sales through regional or national touring.
• Performance -- SSR will seek to promote these artists/bands on a local and regional basis. To qualify each must have adequate equipment and availability to do short regional tours (and national if possible).

Should you know of anyone that you believe would be a good match for one or more of these items, please have them contact me at:

info@saundersstreetrecords.com

Thinking 2010

Well our strategic planning is underway for next year. I'm a firm believer in that ole' saying, "if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail." In my many years of being involved with strategic planning, I've learned that the more you enter the year focused and with a path, the more likely you are to exceed your own expectations.

I'm very excited about 2010. Not only because of the fabulous projects that are on the table, but also for the opportunity we will have to help out the music community. Not being limited to the Kansas City market will be a huge step. Unfortunately, it takes either regional or national success sometimes to hit in your own back yard.

So far, I'm communicating with my primary partners and artists to ensure that their objectives are aligned with my objectives. This prevents anyone from becoming distracted with conflicting interests. So far so good.

The planning sessions will run now through September 20, 2009. Much hard work!

Progress Report on "Chasing Daylight"

Greetings. Well most of the tracks for Chasing Daylight, the forthcoming album of mine, are done in their basic form. Now it is about finding soloists for those tracks. As expected, I'll be using some of the finest Kansas City talent available. This last week I dropped a copy of the raw tracks to Caleb Aldrich, a very talented sax player who currently performs with the Brian Ruskin Quartet and the Night Owls.

August and September are the recording trials for the remaining solos. An interesting note is that the final track for the album is a composition titled "Us". Conceptually, this track will be built around a simple progressive, but will featured an amazing myriad of artists and friends. I will use additive and subtractive techniques to build tension. The cool thing is that it will include individual tracks of "1st time ever's". For example, this may have Heather Thornton playing guitar. Not exactly an instrument she plays, but musicians can always come up with something.

W

Progress Report - Heather Thornton's new album

So far we've got about 6 tracks in varying stages of completion. However, the big news this week is the preliminary mastering of "the Damage is Done". This is one of my songs that Heather desired to sing and include on this album. All the early feedback amongst our constituents and random people who have heard it has exceeded my expectations.

Great job Bree Plaster, your drumming is so intimately perfect for this track. Great job Jeramy Johnston, the upright part is exactly the tone needed to blend with my acoustic guitar foundation. I expect this track will be finalized this week. Can't wait to shop it around to the larger entities. Heather & I need a Grammy!


;)

Life without Coasts

I can thank the US Army for many things....

• turning me into a man
• giving me access to different continents and cultures
• teaching me skills that have served me well

However, the number one thing the Army did for me was teach me that there is no such thing as "can't". I've listened to this argument that musical artists have to end up on one coast or the other in order to be successful. Honestly, I'm so sick of that I just want to hurl.

With the music industry on it's ear (no pun intended), most, if not all the rules are being rewritten. I'm more motivated than ever to be a major contributor to reestablishing KC as a musical hub that rivals the coastal cousins of LA & NY. I quite literal don't buy into that it can't be done. The Sprint Center is already having an impact, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm really talking about leveraging everything from new art & music education facilities to smaller outdoor venues to sponsoring national competitions to lobbying for the renovation of areas within KC specifically for supporting an emerging music industry that includes housing and non-corporate commercial interests (small farmer's markets, artisan crafts and other entertainment).

This city's proud musical heritage has somehow, someway become watered down, hijacked by self-interest groups, manipulated by a controlling few and part of a corporate machine.... none of which will launch us out of our current paradygm and into the stature of coastal scenes. I'm really talking about establishing a new heritage that is organic in nature and built on substance rather than just being the next shiny object. The cohesion must start with organization of the currently existing grass root efforts and the establishment of common goals and objectives for the short-term. Winning the hearts and minds of the diverse and sometimes fickle KC area population must bear fruit from both a word of mouth perspective and also from a positive press perspective. Getting to the point where people want to be part of something transforming is the initial catalyst that will energize growth.

Once some level of critical mass can be established, then an agenda can be pursued through political channels for favorable outcomes regarding funding, zoning, taxation and other threshold items that would need to be addressed for the next level of growth. Getting regional and national tourism dollars should be treated as an anticipated impact rather than an accidental impact.

Through networking, I'm finally starting to meet and establish rapport with some of the people I believe will aid in this endeavor. My vision is that Kansas City be mentioned in the same breath as LA, NY and Nashville for music destinations and economies.... and so the work begins.

Kelsey Taylor joins Saunders Street

Well I've partnered with a young music audiophile who wants to be part of the music business. Kelsey Taylor has come on board to begin training on the fundamentals of the industry and more specifically, to begin working with local and regional talent to help build this midwest renaissance that we are seeing beginning to emerge. The Power & Light District and primarily the Sprint Center, is fueling a remarkable turn around for the Kansas City area music scene. Kelsey will be helping many of a local artists maximize their potential.

New Site Iteration

The new version of the website is up and running. All visitors are welcome, welcome, welcome.

Objectives for Summer/Fall 2009.

The main objectives are to release three albums. My instrumental CD entitled, "the Curtain & the Calm"; Heather Thornton's next release and a third album, which could be Sarah Artido or Jeramy Johnston depending on which one is ready first.

I'm also wanting to get 6 more artists into the hopper for development.

Year two

Well we are well into the 2nd year of Saunders Street. The release of "World Wide Circus" has been a great success. Many thanks to Itunes. Today we are well underway on finding and developing young singer-songwriters. Heather Thornton and Sarah Ardito are both writing and recording for their upcoming 2009 releases. I'm releasing my 1st fully instrumental jazz album next month as a digitally distributed record.

Many thanks to all who believed. Much thanks to Ariel Hyatt and Bob Baker for sharing their knowledge and inspiration.