A question perhaps some smart ppl on this forum can answer?

dianalele

dianalele

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So, I'm going to Haiti in October for a week to volunteer in an orphanage and help clean up rubble and stuff. The problem is.. I'm out of money! So I've been brainstorming fundraisers.
My question is.. could I potentially make CDs of some of my ukulele covers I put on youtube and sell them? Is that breaking copyright laws? If I made a video on youtube about selling my covers for a small donation, would youtube cancel my account and send me to prison for the rest of my life?
lol
but seriously, does anyone know? I figured if anyone would know, someone here would.

Then theres also the issue of who would buy such a CD... but first lets discuss the legality of it.. or the chances of me "getting caught".
 
have you contacted groups that are already down there? They should have resources in place to help you get there to minimize the cost. I know that down here when folks go on mission trips the group does most of the fund raising.
 
Oh i know, I'm going through Mission Discovery. But I still have to pay a small amount for the trip, and I have to pay for traveling expenses.
I've already had a garage sale and I've got a car wash scheduled for next weekend, but I'm just trying to brainstorm some more quick ways to raise some money because its crunch time.
this idea probably wont work out, but that alright, I'll think of somethin else.
 
dianalele said:
So, I'm going to Haiti in October for a week to volunteer in an orphanage and help clean up rubble and stuff. The problem is.. I'm out of money! So I've been brainstorming fundraisers.
My question is.. could I potentially make CDs of some of my ukulele covers I put on youtube and sell them? Is that breaking copyright laws? If I made a video on youtube about selling my covers for a small donation, would youtube cancel my account and send me to prison for the rest of my life?
lol
but seriously, does anyone know? I figured if anyone would know, someone here would.

Then theres also the issue of who would buy such a CD... but first lets discuss the legality of it.. or the chances of me "getting caught".
Click to expand...

I'm afraid you would be wide open for suit. Hell people are getting threatened for covers on youtube when there is no money involved at all. Since the music industry is a heartless bunch, I doubt your cause would deter them.

Now live performance of your covers at a benefit concert would probably be another story. Not legal but a lot harder to track down.

I would have to pay people to take a CD with my covers on them :)
 
dianalele said:
Oh i know, I'm going through Mission Discovery. But I still have to pay a small amount for the trip, and I have to pay for traveling expenses.
I've already had a garage sale and I've got a car wash scheduled for next weekend, but I'm just trying to brainstorm some more quick ways to raise some money because its crunch time.
this idea probably wont work out, but that alright, I'll think of somethin else.
Click to expand...
We used Dominoes Pizza fund raiser cards. If you go through Dominoes (if they still have them) they cost you a dollar but sell for $10. I think there is like 10 free pizzas. Our youth group sold them and we raised over $1000 in 2 weeks selling them.
 
olgoat52 said:
I'm afraid you would be wide open for suit. Hell people are getting threatened for covers on youtube when there is no money involved at all. Since the music industry is a heartless bunch, I doubt your cause would deter them.
Click to expand...

thats what I thought lol. thanks!
i guess now would be a good time to learn to write some of my own music lol.

oh, and my covers wouldnt be worth all that much. Of all my friends I asked on my facebook, only 2 people said that they would buy i cd if I sold them. What support, eh? I either gotta get better friends or make better youtube music!
 
haolejohn said:
We used Dominoes Pizza fund raiser cards. If you go through Dominoes (if they still have them) they cost you a dollar but sell for $10. I think there is like 10 free pizzas. Our youth group sold them and we raised over $1000 in 2 weeks selling them.
Click to expand...

thanks ill look into that!
 
Do you attend church? If you do, ask your pastor if you can speak to congregation to help support what you are doing.
 
dianalele said:
thats what I thought lol. thanks!
i guess now would be a good time to learn to write some of my own music lol.

oh, and my covers wouldnt be worth all that much. Of all my friends I asked on my facebook, only 2 people said that they would buy i cd if I sold them. What support, eh? I either gotta get better friends or make better youtube music!
Click to expand...

Oh and I forgot to mention that it sounds like a wonderful cause. Good on you for considering taking something like that on. Best of luck.


Have you considered a Naked Ukulele cover like MissZooey? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN104VMoIr8 That might bring in some major buck..
 
I would set up a paypal account and just ask for donations in a video. Have a target amount, and make sure you mention Mission Discovery for added legitimacy. I think you'd be surprised at the amount of silent charitable folks there are out there.

To make it more fun, you can have various target levels and do a new video for every level reached.

If you go this route, please let me know. I'll mention it on Facebook and implore others to as well.
 
you could do what these guys do --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eX9r3Bwiek

basically you just have to go live online, have people request songs, request stuff for you to do for donations. im quite sure there will be crazy things people would want you to do. it's your chance to connect with your audience making yourself more endearing plus, it's for a worthy cause too. i'm sure it wouldn't violate any copyright rules. it will just be like your in a bar doing a gig with people requesting you to sing their favorite songs. but im sure your audience would want more than you singing. just lay out boundaries.
 
This is going to sound completely moronic, but:

one time, I was trying to buy a plane ticket, and a few friends and I went to the park and put up a giant sign saying that we would do the following things for money: amateur dream interpretations, ukulele playing, cartwheels, the macarena, paper crane making, etc etc etc. We were also offering cookies and lemonade. Needless to say, the cookies and lemonade were the biggest sellers, and we wound up raising enough to pay for half my ticket. We also discovered that if you offer this stuff as "pay-what-you-want," people were really generous. I don't think anyone bought a cookie for less than five dollars.

Also, it was ridiculously fun!
 
Nice story Austin 1,
I was going to suggest lemonade as a joke but remembered that little girl got arrested a few weeks ago...but they dropped the charges...
Were you the one at the philly jam too???? MM Stan...
 
olgoat52 is right. Trying to sell a CD of covers could land you in a whole mess of trouble. Works in the public domain would be fine. How about a CD of traditional Haitian folk songs? Not that I know any, but thematically it'd be perfect and probably pique a lot of interest. I'd be more inclined to buy that than a CD of (ho-hum) covers. :)
 
mm stan said:
Nice story Austin 1,
I was going to suggest lemonade as a joke but remembered that little girl got arrested a few weeks ago...but they dropped the charges...
Were you the one at the philly jam too???? MM Stan...
Click to expand...

they arrested a lemonade stand girl! Man, kids these days.

Yep, I was there! Lemonade and cookies, however, were not. We'll remedy the situation at the next meet-up.
 
If you are part of a large social group, theatre, church school etc ...you could try a calendar/diary prize draw. Simply take a calendar or print one off on a PC, sell as many of the dates as you can and set the prize money at something like 65. The people select a day they wish to buy for a dollar or pound or whatever currency you have.They often choose birthdays or anniversaries etc, then on a set date you simply draw one of the dates out of a hat and whoever has bought that date wins the prize money and you have the rest for your trip. I am in a theatre group and we do this twice a year, We set the prize at £100 and usually end up 265 in profit.
 
seeso said:
I would set up a paypal account and just ask for donations in a video. Have a target amount, and make sure you mention Mission Discovery for added legitimacy. I think you'd be surprised at the amount of silent charitable folks there are out there.

To make it more fun, you can have various target levels and do a new video for every level reached.

If you go this route, please let me know. I'll mention it on Facebook and implore others to as well.
Click to expand...

That's Great Advice. Well Done.

To the OP... just be careful, whatever you do. As a former minister, I have heard many horror stories about good intentions gone awry. Never be in a situation where you are alone. Groups are safest.
 
I really don't think anything would happen if you sold the CD's locally during a live performance. It's a very small rick to take.
 
How much are you trying to raise?
 
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