A Special Guilt Trip Just for You!

This is the URL I give to people to whom I've given free stuff, but it's a good statement of my musical relationship with money even for those not in that situation. First off, I should say I'm not out to make a profit here. Ok, sure, if I thought I could quit my day job by making enough here, I would do it in a second, but that's only because making music is one of the only things that I just really love doing and want to do all the time. So my primary motivation in having this web page at all is not profit, but merely self-glorification.

...What I meant to say is that part of the joy of making music is giving it to people, which is why I don't mind putting up scads of sound files for free. The only reason I really want people to buy my albums is because that's a truer representation of my creative work, what with the sound quality there being a bit better than mp3, with the cool liner notes I spent so much time on, with the album order I so carefully devised so as to give you a nice, flowing experience, and with the fact that any one of my albums has way more songs on it than I could feasibly put online. ...Plus at this point I don't know too many people who actually burn the mp3's they download onto CD and listen to it enough to really make it a part of their lives. When I learn that someone has really internalized some of my work, it energizes the hell out of me; it makes me feel much less solipsistic, much more like all the time, expense, and sweat it takes to lay down these recordings has been worthwhile.

This drive of mine to get heard makes me give away lots of CD's is very satisfying, but also very draining on the pocketbook. With my present method of home duplication, the cost of producing any one CD is around $3 (including the blank CD itself, the case, the sticker, and the toner/printing charge/cardstock of the liner notes), plus the overhead of all the equipment I had to buy and have to maintain to burn the CD's and to record the music in the first place, plus the fact that maybe 10% of the CD's I burn have some problem and have to be thrown out, plus the monumental cost of burning CD's for submission to music industry types (plus mailing costs). So, my asking $5 or $8 for a CD does not actually end up with me making anything close to a profit.

You're probably used to getting your music from rock stars with big record companies, who really don't suffer if you rip them off a bit and who don't have the time or inclination to care about whether you've really connected with the music you've bought. Things are different, here; I can really use all the help I can get in getting this material out into the world where it can live out a healthy life in the mass consciousness. So, if you've listened to and enjoyed the music on this site or on one of my albums, here's what you can do:

1. Send me cash. If you like what you hear here, why don't you go ahead and donate? Just click this button to send me some cash via any credit card. This all goes through PayPal; I don't get your financial info, and if you already use PayPal for other purposes, you don't even enter credit card info. Clicking the button below doesn't actually itself obligate you to anything; it just takes you to a screen where you can specify a donation amount and rethink your generosity.

2. Buy more albums. If somehow you've gotten a dupe or a freebee of one of my albums, I'd rather you just buy more (at full price) than you just send me some money for what you've got. I can guarantee that no two of my albums will be redundant of each other, so go take another bite of my soul.

3. Spread the word. It's a pretty safe bet that your friends from college or work or summer camp or whatever don't have any idea who I am. Why don't you just go back to my index page, copy the URL, and send it in an e-mail to a bunch of people right this moment. Go. Do it. I'll still be here when you get back. Do you have a CD burner? Well, hell, go burn a copy of these mp3's or one of my full albums for a friend right now. It's okay; so long as you don't sell it I won't sue. If you do it enough, I'm sure those folks will buy more from me anyway.

4. Spay or neuter your pet. And keep it on a leash, you irresponsible bastard. I've been living in the south for a while and am annoyed by all the little doggies running around on the streets just begging for cars to run over them.

There. That's all I ask. Is that so much?? Is it? Oh, actually, I do want one more thing:

5. Give me feedback. What am I, talking to a wall here? Send me your feedback!. Tell us your favorite Linty song. Tell me I'm full of crap and should stop expecting you folks to read so much. Whatever you want. Just e-mail me.