For years much like a poor and dusty kid outside a diner in winter, nose pressed against the glass, I’ve viewed the music industry from the outside. Over the past few years I’ve had my foot in the door (and had said door closed on it) of the business of entertainment. I’ve witnessed an industry that is still so painfully out of touch in the age of social media and unabashed in its ignorance.
There are still old-school dinosaurs attempting to apply old world media solutions to a model that’s evolved past it. The next I Am The Icarus release is an experiment (that could fail miserably) in using the Trent Reznor/Kevin Smith model of using a word of mouth/viral campaign to raise awareness and funds, albeit on a much smaller scale.
It’s with this spirit in mind that I’m releasing the Secret Origins EP.
The title appeals to the comic book nerd in me and the fact that I’m indeed selling the past to pay for the future of the band. The four songs on the Secret Origins EP are previously unavailable songs recorded in 2007. The origins of IATI are literally in every nook and cranny of these songs, you can see where it’s going. It’s Punk Rock in its raw, imperfect, purity and written/recorded on the heels of forming IATI.
Every dollar earned goes towards finishing the NEXT IATI record - The Father, The Heretic And The Son - and releasing it to you independently.
True independence is releasing your music on your OWN terms and deciding how it should and WILL be used. It occurred to me that servicing your art to major media companies and NOT the fans makes absolutely ZERO sense to my sensibilities. It’s a calculated risk and I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain. I’ve been inspired by Kevin Smith over the past year to in his words - “Keep your head up and never chase the puck; go where the puck’s gonna be.” – And that’s what I intend on doing.
When you buy the Secret Origins EP, you’re helping to create and distribute the next IATI record: every dollar earned goes toward that end. As an added incentive not only do you get to be a part of the making of the next record but the first 1000 people to buy Secret Origins will get The Father, The Heretic And The Sonabsolutely FREE. Not only free but in ANY format you want, MP3, FLAC, WAV etc.
I need YOUR help. Spread the word on facebook, twitter, tumblr, etc. Blog about it, send texts - Be apart of something exciting and truly progressive.
Let’s show the rest of the world where the industry is heading - Truly independent and willing to take a chance.
I Am The Icarus
Daniel Godfrey
Behold! The King Of Gloom sketch by Ron Oades
RED STATE, U.S.A. Tour
The Harvey Boys have witnessed first hand the vagaries of “studio math” - the byzantine numbers game that sees an uneducated media and public celebrating “huge” openings at the box office while ignoring the obscene marketing costs attached to reach those figures. We believe it’s a pyrrhic victory to simply “buy” an opening weekend by pouring millions of dollars into TV spots, billboards and print ads. As storytellers, why not instead use our creative abilities that resulted in a film in the first place to also creatively SELL that film directly to our public?
We believe the state of film marketing has become ridiculously expensive and exclusionary to the average filmmaker longing simply to tell their story. When the costs of marketing and releasing a movie are four times that film’s budget, it’s apparent the traditional distribution mechanism is woefully out of touch with not only the current global economy, but also the age of social media.
Therefore, The Harvey Boys will not spend a dime on old world media buys (such as TV/Print/Outdoor) as we self-distribute our film, Red State, in an admittedly unconventional, yet extremely cost effective, word of mouth/viral campaign.
Knowledge is power, and we believe in empowering the filmmaker - so the Harvey Boys vow to make the financials of Red State open and transparent from which anybody hoping to follow suit can learn. We will do what no studio has dared: open up our books for the world to see so anyone interested in pursuing a similar independent release strategy has a better understanding of the BUSINESS of Red State.
And if we’re successful - or even merely effective - at producing a film distribution apparatus that can stand apart from the cost-prohibitive studio model currently viewed as the only way to get a movie into a theater? It is our intent to use the groundwork we lay with Red State to aid other filmmakers in releasing THEIR films, via our newly launched SModcast Pictures.
Don’t hate the studio; BECOME the studio. Anybody can make a movie; what we aim to prove is anyone can release a movie as well
The Harvey Boys
Jon Gordon & Kevin Smith
Get RED STATE Shirts and Posters. When you buy Red State merchandise, you’re helping to distribute the movie: every penny made from all Red State merchandise goes into the print-making budget. The per-print cost is roughly $2500, so for a 1000-print run, we’ll need approximately $2.5 million dollars.
