I had a conversation recently with Stephen about the production of his solo CD 'TALLULAH?" which has been hand made by Stephen himself and is a great example of the success a physical artifact can have combined with digital capabilities. Below are Stephens thoughts and feedback on the project as well as images from the original shoot with Stephen and the CD itself.
Stephen Hudson:
The idea behind making them myself became a necessity because of what i wanted the
single to look like. 'Tallulah?' starts with a piano riff and I've had the red toy piano since I was a baby,
doing my first solo release after frustrations with bands and music in general felt like a fresh start and a rebirth, so for me personally the image has resonance and I also thought i could use it to make the packaging look really cool.
I wasn't sure any company would do them in that shape (especially not in a short run)
so worked out that with an A3 sheet of card, bits and bats bought off the internet, a lot of spray mount, hardwork work and blisters, I'd be able to do a short run of 100 myself.
'Stephen Hudson' ©2010 MATT JOHNSTON
This was ideal because I think its ever so important to have something that looks special and means something to the person at your gig buying it- because the CDs are an unusual design, and I'd invested time and effort making them myself, I thought that this would come across with the single. Hardly anyone buys physical CDs anymore, and if you're a small-scale, independent band or solo performer like I am, the people who do have usually made the effort to come and do so at a gig you're playing and deserve something special and collectable, over a scribbled CDr in a plastic wallet.
I'd also learned the hard way with my band and our first EP, when we bought a run of a 1000 CDs with a company pressing them and printing the card wallets. Because we didn't have a distribution deal and we didn't tour constantly, we still have boxes of them around our houses. It feels awesome when we get people buying the EP over the internet from different places around the world, but its a very slow trickle and it would feel far better if we'd done a run of 200 ourselves.
'The Good Ship' ©2010 MATT JOHNSTON
One obstacle I'm facing with sending out the single this time, isn't the packaging itself, but the jiffy bag it comes in. I worry that the CD looks really good, but it might not get opened.
As far as feedback from other people goes, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. People have told me that it looks better than what you would find in a shop,
and most people can't believe I've made them myself. A quote from the Lancaster Guardian "the CD would be better placed on your bookshelf, which fits in with the quirky nature of
the label's (Barnbox) other releases and the music on the record itself". I was pretty chuffed with that!
The single is available for purchase from the iTunes store and Barnbox records HERE
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