Economic Stimulus

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Times are tough, I am well aware. Last October happened to everyone, and it was especially felt in New York. By February of this year, I had dodged the proverbial bullet at my company no less than 3 times - that's about the time I decided to cash in my chips and quit while I was ahead.

Whew.

It was confirmed this month that had I stayed, I would indeed have found myself amongst the other 9.5% of the U.S. labor force in the unemployed category. (Counting those hidden blessings as we speak.)

Fortunately, for those of us who are just rich in relationships, there have been a lot of great things about our failing economy. It's now trendy to pinch pennies! My latest investment? A spool of blank cds. Enter, our Fall 2009 Music Stimulus Package.

Now, regarding the legality of it, I'm not really clear on all the fine print under the FBI Anti-Piracy Warning, but I'm fairly confident that Obama would back me on this.

This bill, like most others, came about from wasting time on the corporate clock emailing friends and googling stuff. We assessed the need (read: made a list of all the albums coming out that we collectively wanted), made the assignments and set the buy-in rate. Once you have purchased the cd(s) on your list, they become public property to share within the group. It's totally brill.

Now to the artists, who are loyal followers of A Musical Snack, who might be getting worked up about their royalties, don't fret. We are your biggest fans! We are the ones that sit in the upper tier at all of your concerts, in the rain! We follow you on twitter! We are your grassroots, word-of-mouth advertisers - so give us a break! Besides, we are cutting corners now so we can still go to your concert.

For example, if you pre-order John Mayer's cd from his website, you will also receive a pre-sale code for early access tickets for his Winter 2010 tour. Check! It's also being pre-ordered on iTunes so we get the exclusive bonus tracks and videos.

(A personal side note, go here to sample his songs - my heart literally flutters)

And the excitement is spreading! I recently got an early morning call from my good friend Robbie who, thanks to his persistence and excellent driving/emailing skills, won a copy of the New Moon Soundtrack from our favorite morning radio station! That's a $14.99 snag, people. I've bought all four books and have seen/will see all the movies - I think the Twilight franchise has extracted enough profit from me.

I also bought tickets to see Pete Yorn in November - and thanks to a contribution to the fund, I'll be singing along when he plays a new song instead of talking or twittering.

Every.body.wins.