CHEAP DATE: OUR 2009 FUNDING DRIVE
by Sean
Please note: MP3s are only kept online for a short time, and if this entry is from more than a couple of weeks ago, the music probably won't be available to download any more.


 

Said the Gramophone 2009 Funding Drive

Said the Gramophone is now around six years old. Six years is a very good age to be. We know how to walk, run, jump and crack jokes. We know the words to a few songs. We've invented code-words, made some friends, and we are learning how to draw shoelaces.

Six years ago, there's no way Dan, Jordan and I could have imagined ourselves here in pistachio-green, saying, "Hi again, all you".

This is the third annual Said the Gramophone Funding Drive. It's when we ask for your generosity.

Last year the three of us played you more than 500 songs and wrote more than 250 posts. Each day we threw one, two, three hours of our lives at this silly, sometimes splendid thing. It doesn't take much more than that to keep all this going. But it does take something. (That something is: money.)

Said the Gramophone does not take advertising. You may have noticed that most websites, and certainly most mp3blogs, do. Words that have been used to describe this decision: "stupid", "silly", "naive", "nice". Every week, someone new asks us if we want to put up ads - a few days ago I was even stopped on my bike. But our foolhardy decision has stuck, and this means that not only are we a little poorer than we might be - once a year we have to come to you and say Please give.

If you enjoy this site, please give. TIME magazine may like us but still Said the Gramophone is never going to be the biggest mp3blog in the world. We are too set in our weird, woolly ways. We try to do just one thing - writing with spirit about the songs we love, - and to do that one thing well. Our audience is you. That's it. There's no one else. You small, strange gang. We cherish our rare contacts - and every spring we ask for your help.

This year there are two funds for donations. Both will be open for just one week and then we will go back to our quiet noisiness.

  1. Donate to Said the Gramophone's robotic underpinnings.

  2. Donate to Said the Gramophone's people.

These are some of the things we did in the past year: introduced you, perhaps, to artists such as Ponytail, Withered Hand, Sister Suvi, Tune-Yards, The Whiskers, Carl Spidla, Jumbling Towers, Adam & the Amethysts, Lykke Li, the Dodos, Women, the Soul Stirrers, the Instruments, Diamonds, Babe Terror, Kasai Allstars, Wild Beasts, Hologram, Sibylle Baier, Kleerup, Young Coyotes, Abe Vigoda, Karl Blau, My People Sleeping, Wale, Forest Fire, Freak Paeans, Rye Rye, School of Seven Bells, Lord Dog Bird, Jib Kidder, Gossamer Albatross, Titus Andronicus, Witchies, Styx Tyger, Nico Muhly, Passion Pit, Esau Mwamwaya, Pretend You're Happy, Francois Virot, Buraka Som Sistema, Eternal Summers, Eagleowl, Land of Talk, Meursault, Doug Randle, Marvin Pontiac, Nneka, Fever Ray, Parlovr, the Phantom Band, Twin Sister, Micachu and the Shapes, the Daredevil Christopher Wright, Clues, Emperor X, the Best Show on WFMU; wrote stories about rusted butterflies, "Kokomo" in the subway, listening to Percy Sledge, seeing the Silver Jews, having a crush on Stephen Harper, Mikaeus Andante, Mayo Thompson at the library, Bruce Springsteen surveys, and oh hundreds more; offered guest posts by Ariel Kitch, Amber Albrecht, The Whiskers, Adam & the Amethysts and sort of the Silver Jews; shared our favourite songs and favourite albums of 2008.

We did a lot with little, but it was only worthwhile because of our readers' kindness of spirit, eagerness of ear, and dope handclaps. Thank you so much for all your comments and clicks, your hoots and chides, your tips and toodle-oos, your back-blogs and back-rubs. Thanks for telling your friends, your uncles, your sisters, your thesis advisors about us. Thanks for adding us on Facebook. Thanks for playing our favourite songs to your lovers. Thanks for having patience with our bullshit. We understand that not everyone can afford to donate to a silly website. Regardless of dollars or cents, pounds or zloty, thank-you thank-you thank-you all again for continuing to make this one of the most rewarding things in our lives.

And a great song to send you on your day, to paint yr walls a heart's watercolour blush. I mentioned it before in passing, but it deserves more. (via shake yr fist)

Burning Hearts - "I Lost My Colour Vision"

Posted by Sean at March 30, 2009 11:58 AM
Comments

Hey Said the Gramophone. I'd love to donate but guess where I live: Iran! We don't have credit cards or such stuff. But I love this blog and I run an indie music blog here in Iran: http://www.thiswinkis.com
It's both a dangerous and difficult thing to do but that's the fun thing about it.
Let me know if my blog can be on StG's favorite blog list.

Posted by Pedram at March 30, 2009 12:33 PM

Thanks, guys!

Posted by Luke at March 30, 2009 3:26 PM

Your hosting costs are only $300 or so? Sell some ad space -- you'll cover that amount easily.

Posted by S at March 30, 2009 8:12 PM

...and like that, S misses the point.

One of the things that keeps this site as awesome as it is is its cleanliness. It is as advertised, nothing more. Words, pics, songs.


That's too negative, though; I'll use this space now for something better. Thank y'all for existing. The internet would be a bleaker place without stg, and as the drive counters will tell you, I'm not alone in thinking so. Thanks, guys.

Posted by karpe at March 30, 2009 11:59 PM

That is so awesome that you guys don't take advertising. I think...you might be the only ones noble anymore. TY for your hard work.

Posted by MediaRuckus at March 31, 2009 11:46 PM

For the last three years or so STG has been my happiness back-up generator, and I don't think there's thanks enough to do you all justice, but still, thank you, times infinity.

(No topsies.)

Posted by Ryan at April 1, 2009 8:16 AM

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about said the gramophone
This is a daily sampler of really good songs. All tracks are posted out of love. Please go out and buy the records.

To hear a song in your browser, click the and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'

All songs are removed within a few weeks of posting.

Said the Gramophone launched in March 2003, and added songs in November of that year. It was one of the world's first mp3blogs.

If you would like to say hello, find out our mailing addresses or invite us to shows, please get in touch:
Montreal, Canada: Sean
Toronto, Canada: Emma
Montreal, Canada: Jeff
Montreal, Canada: Mitz

Please don't send us emails with tons of huge attachments; if emailing a bunch of mp3s etc, send us a link to download them. We are not interested in streaming widgets like soundcloud: Said the Gramophone posts are always accompanied by MP3s.

If you are the copyright holder of any song posted here, please contact us if you would like the song taken down early. Please do not direct link to any of these tracks. Please love and wonder.

"And I shall watch the ferry-boats / and they'll get high on a bluer ocean / against tomorrow's sky / and I will never grow so old again."
about the authors
Sean Michaels is the founder of Said the Gramophone. He is a writer, critic and author of the theremin novel Us Conductors. Follow him on Twitter or reach him by email here. Click here to browse his posts.

Emma Healey writes poems and essays in Toronto. She joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. This is her website and email her here.

Jeff Miller is a Montreal-based writer and zinemaker. He is the author of Ghost Pine: All Stories True and a bunch of other stories. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Say hello on Twitter or email.

Mitz Takahashi is originally from Osaka, Japan who now lives and works as a furniture designer/maker in Montreal. English is not his first language so please forgive his glamour grammar mistakes. He is trying. He joined Said the Gramophone in 2015. Reach him by email here.

Site design and header typography by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet. The header graphic is randomized: this one is by Neale McDavitt-Van Fleet.
PAST AUTHORS
Dan Beirne wrote regularly for Said the Gramophone from August 2004 to December 2014. He is an actor and writer living in Toronto. Any claim he makes about his life on here is probably untrue. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.

Jordan Himelfarb wrote for Said the Gramophone from November 2004 to March 2012. He lives in Toronto. He is an opinion editor at the Toronto Star. Click here to browse his posts. Email him here.
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Said the Gramophone does not take advertising. We are supported by the incredible generosity of our readers. These were our donors in 2013.
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