Martha Johnson (without The Muffins)

Clearly, Canadians are a sociable bunch.  It must be those wide open prairies and long cold winters that instils a sense of connection to their fellow man.  Not only that, they drive on the left right and remember to put a ‘u’ in colour.  As evidence I offer Adrian du Plessis, manager of singer Allison Crowe, and regular commentator on this blog almost since its inception many years ago.  And now I can add to the list, Martha Johnson, she of the Muffins and ‘Echo Beach’.

Long time readers will remember that I included my seeing Martha and the Muffins in a cramped, sweaty music pub back in 1980 in my top ten list of all-time favourite gigs and subsequently approved their ‘comeback’ album, ‘Delicate’ in 2010.  To bring the saga up to date, I find that Martha has left a comment on that post advising of her current project, a solo album to be entitled, well, ‘Solo One’.

Like a growing army of artists these days, she has taken the route of asking fans to ‘pledge’ money to fund the production of the album.  This effectively means that the production costs are covered by pre-selling the product.  I remember Sing-Sing doing this in a fairly low key way via social media about 10 years ago so that their 2 albums could be brought to fruition.  Today, it has become more of a business and there are specific websites set up for artists to try their luck.  This is true democracy at work as supply of the eventual product depends entirely on demand and the buying public’s willingness to fund the project.

From a fan’s viewpoint, an up-front payment guarantees you a copy of the album at the very least and a whole host of extras ranging from signed CDs to skype sessions with the artist depending on the level of your pledge.  Comfortingly, you stand to get your money back if insufficient funds are raised and a proportion of any ‘profit’ goes to charity.  The downside being that you are never quite sure what you’re going to get, but then that is the risk with all investment.

In true ‘Dragon’s Den’ style, I’m in for a small investment of 10 Canadian Dollars  (about £6.50) which gets me a download of the album assuming the project goes ahead.  If you, too, wish to invest in ‘Solo One’ or any of its associated pledge packages, follow the link below.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/marthajohnson