Right around Christmas of last year I posted about an idea I'd come up with to redirect Amazon.com promotional funds to Project Open Hand, a non-profit, non-denominational organization that feeds low-income and disabled people in the Bay Area. Though I'm (still!) waiting to find out exactly how much of a donation we were able to generate (Amazon.com apparently only reports earnings every few months), an identical promotion has just been launched, and I want to jump on it as quickly as possible.
The deal is exactly the same as last time: Amazon.com has published a promo code that gives you $2 worth of free credit to spend in their MP3 store. If you'll use this free money to buy two tracks from my album, I'll then donate my portion of the proceeds to Project Open Hand.
As I calculated in the previous post, after Amazon.com and my distributor (CD Baby) take their respective cuts, we should be able to donate ~$0.63 per-track sold. Not a lot on its own, but multiplied by a few hundred people and we're on our way to something significant.
Here are the steps:
- Click here and enter coupon code VDAYMP3S. You'll have $2 credited to your account.
- Purchase any two tracks from my album. Your free credit will be used automatically.
- Project Open Hand profits!
The promotion runs through February 14, 2011, at 11:59 p.m. PST. That gives us just one week to make this happen.
In my follow-up to last-year's initial description of this idea, I made some observations about what I would do differently "next time." Chief among them was enlisting other artists to broaden the network of friends and fans that might be willing to contribute to the cause. I'm pleased to announce that a few of my fellow musicians have already signed on to donate their income from Amazon.com MP3 sales during this promotional period. I'm setting up a basic website as we speak that will link to each of these artists- it should be up by tomorrow (Tuesday). I'll post info here when it goes live.
As a final note, one of the biggest difficulties in getting an idea like this off the ground is the issue of trust. While taking part in this endeavor won't cost you anything (we're using Amazon's money!), there is no way for participants to ensure that I won't just run off to Tijuana with the proceeds we generate. The best I can do is pledge that my intentions are genuine, and promise to you that my desire is ONLY to see a few corporate dollars go toward making a direct and tangible impact on the lives of people in our community. I'm not in this to profit, nor to promote myself as an artist.
Thank you for your trust. Now let's get the word out!
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