Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who has shown their support so far. You blow my mind every single time and I'm forever grateful for your interest in my work.
Many years ago I promised at some point I'd release a physical CD for my long term fans and supporters. I finally got it done three months ago and self-produced the album, Up to Now, which is a compilation of my most streamed singles and a couple of bonus tracks. After ordering the print and production then waiting for the delivery, I discovered I was being charged 40% import tax, handling fees and other processing fees by the customs office in Brazil.
What would have cost a relatively small amount and allowed me to sell the CD at a token price, as well as run giveaways, turned into extortion!
My goal set here is the value of tax I was charged to have my CDs delivered. It was either pay the fee or allow them to be destroyed.
I messed up. I should have clicked a button on the form that I missed when making the order and I would have had distribution through Amazon. Well we don't make the same mistakes twice, do we!
So, like I said, the goal of having the disc was bring able to get it to fans, friends and family who wanted something of a keepsake.
I'm not a very money oriented person. If I can pay the bills, book the occasional flight to the UK, and treat myself to an instrument or a new bit of studio equipment now and then, I'm good! So really, all I'm looking to do here is help cover the tax and handling costs so that I can then ship some copies out to the people that really want one. (Postage from Brazil is also pretty expensive.) At this point, it's about breaking even.
As an extra thank you, I will be releasing a project I started back in December titled The Black and White Sessions. I have 6 tracks on it so far and I'd almost abandoned it because of the direction I'm going with the band and my other projects. This will likely be my final release that I'll be promoting as a solo artist.
I currently write and produce for 5 projects and collaborate with other musicians as a singer and songwriter around the world and I'm cutting back a bit now to focus on Bad Scullianz. I will still release the occasional track if I feel it's something I want to do, but the objective of releasing a physical CD was more a farewell than anything. Closing the doors on one chapter and moving onto the next.
So there you go! Thanks again for the love and if you are interested to know more about my other projects, you can check out the following on Spotify, YouTube or other streaming platforms.
Bad Scullianz (hard rock & metal)
Querent (new age, healing instrumental music)
Rock Tots (children's music)
Liz James (folk/alternative/indie/pop/rock)