Question 1

What is the CHAMPIONS Initiative?

Accepted Answer

This initiative is a way for my musical community to directly fund its own artistic output without the need for outward growth, marketing or extensive social media content creation. It’s a way for dedicated fans and family to become a record label for the band, creating these albums together with us.

Question 2

Why now?

Accepted Answer

I've had multiple albums in production for the last 10 years. The reality is that in order to write, record, promote, release, launch and tour any new work, it costs a small fortune. And you don’t need me to tell you that the last few years have been extremely tough on the arts. If these albums ever see the light of day, at this rate it’ll be another 20 years before I release the next one. I find this unacceptable.

Question 3

What about other funding?

Accepted Answer

All government support has dried up. And I’ve exhausted all other funding avenues. The landscape is simply too competitive. We have to do this ourselves, but the problem is all the musicians I know are broke. This is where I’d usually launch a crowdfunding campaign to make an album happen. But a single crowdfunder doesn’t solve the problem of sustainability in an industry which cannot or will not support the little man.

Question 4

Why not grow an online following?

Accepted Answer

Here’s the big problem: There is a model for growth for the modern musician - in order to break even on the creation of a large scale work like this, one needs to generate enough sales, which means expensive marketing and probably a tour, but touring is only really viable if you can grow an online fanbase beforehand in each city/country you plan to visit. This is almost impossible if you’ve been relatively inactive for a number of years.

Social media platform algorithms tend to favour accounts which post short-form super-repetitive content multiple times a day and those who engage with their online community on a regular basis. The most effective strategy is paying to have your new single appear on as many high profile Spotify playlists as possible. The goal is to accrue the maximum amount of followers, a small percentage of which can then be converted into sales. This, funnily enough, also maximises the amount of time and money spent on the platforms themselves.

Question 5

Ok, but does it have to be expensive?

Accepted Answer

You might hear from some sources that it's cheaper than ever to make music these days, with great software, cutting edge plugins and AI assistance etc. and this is true, if you wanna release catchy pop music that can potentially go viral, or indeed, any kind of music that doesn't involve a large group of highly skilled professionals capturing a live performance in studio.

This method of recording, the one I’m interested in, is expensive. Costs include:

Rehearsal space hire
Musician fees
Studio hire
Music video filming and editing
Artwork creation
Pressing of Cds/Vinyl
Ad hoc photography
Ads and marketing/promotion of a launch concert

...never mind the hundreds of hours it takes to write, rewrite, arrange, demo and format instrument parts for an entire album’s worth of high quality music(but this I'm happy to do for free, it's my passion).

My point is that it's a huge amount of work and costs thousands of pounds. In order to sell enough copies to not get into major debt, I would have to quit all my gigs and seriously compromise the time I spend with my family in order to dedicate my life to creating enough content that I could, over maybe 2 years, grow an online fanbase and generate enough of a following to justify a large scale marketing campaign to attract enough customers and sell enough units to justify the creation of the album in the first place. If you’re not subscribing to this model, then apparently, you just don't understand how the industry works nowadays and you’re gonna miss out...

Question 6

What's the bottom line?

Accepted Answer

Here’s the rub. This model clearly doesn't work for me or the art I wanna create(as well as every single other working musician I know). I don't want to quit my gigs. I refuse to comprise the already stretched time I have with my family. I have absolutely no interest in becoming a full time content creator, making thousands of 8 sec videos for 10% of uninterested followers to scroll past. I wanna make albums.

So I've come up with an alternative which will allow my community to directly fund the creation of 20 albums over the next 20 years, much like a Collective or a Community Record Label. So, instead of focusing on outward growth. I'm going to turn my attention inward. I already know for a fact that there is a relatively small group of people who love me, who want to see me flourish, who would support me in a heartbeat if I asked. I'm now speaking to you, my Champions.

Question 7

So, what's the deal?

Accepted Answer

In a nutshell, here's the deal...

I'm launching a new scheme where you can set up a recurring PayPal payment of £30 a year. Each year, on my birthday, starting the 31st October 2026, an album of the highest quality will be delivered exclusively to the Champions. No-one else gets to hear it. We hope to reach our initial target of 200 Champions by 31st October this year(2025). This is the threshold we need to hit to deliver 20 albums over the next 20 years.

Question 8

Won’t it cost more to produce everything?

Accepted Answer

Yes, 200 Champions at £30 a year is only £6,000. These albums, if produced in isolation, would cost a lot more. But by relying on this annual payment we’ll be able to budget accordingly, pooling funds for multiple projects into a single recording session, cutting time and costs in the studio.

For eg. the first 2 albums will include the recording of full choir. This recording can be made for both projects at the same time, reducing studio and rehearsal time. Imagine this strategy but stretched over 20 concentric projects.

Question 9

Can I cancel my recurring payment at any time?

Accepted Answer

Yes, of course.

There will be resources to help you do this as easily as possible. If in doubt, simply drop me an email and I'll sort it!

Question 10

Isn’t £30 a bit much for an album?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it’s more than a traditional album costs on the high street. But you’re not just paying for your copy. You’re creating it with us. And we're not on the high street, backed by a big record company with hundreds of thousand pounds in marketing campaigns.

For a group of 200 patrons, £30 is much closer to what an album actually costs, and that’s just the recording process. Remember, using this model, the initiative has the potential to grow into an community-based, grassroots record label fuelled directly by and exclusively for you, the fan-base. There will be no growth into the wider UK music industry. There'll be no need for it.

Question 11

I’m into it! Is there an option to pay more?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Champions can pay a minimum of £30 but there are options below for £50 and £100 a year.

Question 12

What EXACTLY will I get?

Accepted Answer

This year’s album released on the 31st October(starting 2026)

As a CD if requested/applicable*

Exclusive music videos

A private livestream 4x times a year with:

Behind the scenes footage of the writing/'making of' process.
Inside scoop on concepts, ideas and lyrics.
Progress updates on all albums in production.
Special guest interviews/performances and Q&As.
Full album 'Listening Party' pre-launch.
Live-streamed interactive play-throughs of all Adventure Albums.

Question 13

What if we reach more than 200 Champions?

Accepted Answer

We hope to reach our initial target of 200 Champions by 31st October  2025. This is the minimum number of patrons we need to deliver 20 albums over the next 20 years.

If we reach 300 champions we can begin to pay all musicians for all recording sessions.

At 400, we can pay all the creatives involved at industry standard rates.

At 500, we can begin to invite other Edinburgh artists into the scheme, funding and facilitating the creation of their albums, honouring their vision and their methods. There will be a particular focus on young, hard-working bands with no other funding opportunities.

At 600 we’ll also be able to pay these musicians for their work.

... and so on....

Question 14

Seems ambitious, can you pull it off?

Accepted Answer

Yes. If you know me you’ll know I’m no stranger to a challenge. That’s the way I like it...

You might remember The Big Stream - the recording and release of an album in a day for Maggie's Edinburgh;

the consecutive performance of 200 songs in a day for Edinburgh Sick Kis Hospital, The Butterfly Trust and SAMH;

maybe you were a supporter of StreamCycle, a platform developed during COVID for professional musicians to collaborate live in real-time performance, remotely, from across the globe;

or maybe you pledged for our last album, GUILLOTINE, which culminated in the launch at Summerhall with a live 19-piece orchestra and some of the most challenging music to date. Guillotine was the band’s 3rd Studio album.

Question 15

What other albums do you have planned?

Accepted Answer

AVALANCHE
Avalanche follows a single-winged, flightless child born as an outcast to a floating sky village. But their real struggle begins when they discover a forbidden bridge to the treacherous Mountain Realm below. Avalanche, our very first Adventure Album, will come complete with a bespoke app and will be followed by many more based in the same world(This project began its life as Jigsaw).

ALASKA
Many of you might already know about Alaska, an album inspired by my honeymoon trip around the globe, from Thailand to Central America and the States, and reflections of my 4 months spent aboard the Star Princess Cruise Ship, sailing up and down the west coast of the US in 2016. It's been 10 years since I began this project it's time to share it with the world.

DELOREAN
DeLorean was one of StreamCycle’s cyberbands, born out of a turbulent time of lockdowns and online exploration. The band created an album’s worth of material that remains unrecorded. The music is heavily influenced by the processes and the attitudes we were forced to adopt to survive.

PANTHEON
Pantheon began in 2024 as a large-scale funk collective focused on collaborative writing and theatrical costumes/masks. Almost an album’s worth of material has been workshopped but the project stalled due to lack of funding.

THE BEAST
The Beast was originally to be a 3-part funk opera cycle complete with full string ensemble and mega-band. It is based on the story and the origin of the concept of Satan and the portrayal of Lucifer and The Devil in major works like Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’, Dante’s ‘Inferno’ and Faust's 'Mephistopheles'.

It explores the historicity of the development of the myth of the antagonist and draws heavily on the concept of the Shadow from writers like Nietzsche, Jung and Freud. The writing of this work began in 2015 but, of course, stalled due to lack of funding.

Question 16

Why not use Patreon?

Accepted Answer

Patreon uses a similar subscription-based model but it takes a major cut and also has the tax deducted before the artist receives any payments, this means that a much smaller percentage of the funds reaches the artist. It’s a great platform which has allowed many artists to create with direct funding from their fans, but every penny counts, so I've set up my own direct recurring payment system via PayPal, which takes only fraction in fees.

CHAMPIONS
SO FAR

6/200

THE
CHAMPIONS
INITIATIVE

GOT QUESTIONS...?

What is the CHAMPIONS Initiative?

Why now?

What about other funding?

Why not grow an online following?

Ok, but does it have to be expensive?

What's the bottom line?

So, what's the deal?

Won’t it cost more to produce everything?

Can I cancel my recurring payment at any time?

Isn’t £30 a bit much for an album?

I’m into it! Is there an option to pay more?

What EXACTLY will I get?

What if we reach more than 200 Champions?

Seems ambitious, can you pull it off?

What other albums do you have planned?

Why not use Patreon?

Become a PATRON with £3

BECOME A CHAMPION

Heading 6

BECOME A CHAMPION

Heading 6

BECOME A
CHAMPION

Bob Dylan/Neil Young - ON PIANO

The Katet Vs. John Williams/1995

New EdFringe Shows - "ON PIANO"

The Katet

StreamCycle

GENERAL ENQUIRIES
and BOOKINGS

Subscribe to my Newsletter

GET IN TOUCH

CHAMPIONS SO FAR

6/200

THE CHAMPIONS INITIATIVE

GOT QUESTIONS...?

What is the CHAMPIONS Initiative?

Why now?

What about other funding?

Why not grow an online following?

Ok, but does it have to be expensive?

What's the bottom line?

So, what's the deal?

Won’t it cost more to produce everything?

Can I cancel my recurring payment at any time?

Isn’t £30 a bit much for an album?

I’m into it! Is there an option to pay more?

What EXACTLY will I get?

What if we reach more than 200 Champions?

Seems ambitious, can you pull it off?

What other albums do you have planned?

Why not use Patreon?

Become a PATRON with £3

BECOME A CHAMPION

Heading 6

BECOME A CHAMPION

Heading 6

BECOME A CHAMPION

Bob Dylan/Neil Young - ON PIANO

The Katet Vs. John Williams/1995

New EdFringe Shows - "ON PIANO"

The Katet

StreamCycle

GENERAL ENQUIRIES and BOOKINGS

Subscribe to my Newsletter

GET IN TOUCH

CHAMPIONS
SO FAR

THE
CHAMPIONS
INITIATIVE

BECOME A
CHAMPION

GENERAL ENQUIRIES
and BOOKINGS