Thank you for the music... and cash (From Bournemouth Echo)

Thank you for the music... and cash

7:00pm Tuesday 30th December 2008

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WITH the music industry in self-inflicted turmoil trying to make sense of an age in which traditional record companies are increasingly redundant, Bournemouth University media production graduate Daniel Ward-Murphy has sidestepped the record labels and funded an album by recruiting fans as investors.

He raised $50,000 through the online initiative Sellaband.com and now the fruits of his not inconsiderable labours, a debut album entitled Until The Morning Light, are set to arrive in the shops on January 12.

“This has been an exhausting, fascinating journey and I’m really happy to finally have an album out there where it can take on a life of its own and will go wherever it goes,” says the 31-year-old through the fog of an untimely sore throat.

But it augurs well for the album’s success – the initial tracks posted on Sellaband’s website were recorded when Daniel was recovering from a cold.

“Those are the realities of operating at this level,” he says. “You book a studio and a producer and there’s no going back. You can’t say ‘I’ll do it next week’, it’s that moment or not at all. The comforting thing was that if I managed to attract the investment of fans when I had a bad throat I knew the vocals on the actual album would be far better.”

Maybe it’s fortunate that Daniel isn’t in this game to drive a Rolls Royce “cos it’s good for my voice,” as Marc Bolan would have it.

“All I’ve ever wanted to do is earn a living from music, but it’s tough. I have to sell 45 CDs to cover the cost of a rehearsal session. I played a showcase at the Soho Revue Bar recently and made £610 on the door, but the venue hire fee was £660 and I had an industry drinks bill of £180 so I lost money.”

Ah, the timeless tale of the struggling artist.

Daniel’s musical history goes back nearly 20 years. He started writing songs at the age of 13 that really took flight when he formed the band Coney Junction at university in Bournemouth, building a solid local following. Having graduated, he and bandmate Dan Winterburn set their sights on London where their new band, Bullet Galloway, made some waves and were courted by major record labels only to be jilted at the altar.

“I’m sure I’m giving this longer than I would have said I would when I was 21 – and I’m itching to start recording new material for a second album – but it has been a great journey so far.

“The good news about the Sellaband deal is that it includes a 5,000 Euro budget for marketing and promotion. It’s easy to knock the old record labels for signing artists the public didn’t weant to hear, but they actually did some things very well. It’s no use producing music that nobody gets to hear which is why you need an element of promotion.

“There’s no end game with MySpace – you put music up that people can listen to but it doesn’t take you anywhere. With Sellaband enough people have liked or at least seen the potential in my music to invest in it and there are enough people around me to worry about the business to leave me with enough space to get on with writing and performing.”

Until The Morning Light by Daniel Ward-Murphy is released on January 12. See website danielwm.com to order.

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