Kickstarter

NOTE: This is a not-for-profit kickstarter campaign - its simple goal is to let as many people as are interested have the opportunity to get this Christmas project of music and art on a 4GB flash drive for $10.

NOTE #2: I set the goal for this campaign very low in order to make sure we met it - we did meet it, with about 12 days to spare! Thanks! BUT, that doesn't mean you should leave the page now. The more drives are ordered, the more slight overhead we'll have to put into more flash drives to give out to people for free (pay it forward! see the story below for more info!).

The following musicians have offered to do a song for this project:

Aaron Strumple (http://www.aaronstrumpel.com/)

Andrew Connor (http://ghosty.bandcamp.com/)

Andrew Smith (http://www.facebook.com/brotherleather)

Beau Jennings (http://beaujennings.com/)

Bryyn (http://www.bryyn.com/)

Christopher Tolle (http://christophertolle.com/)

Dan Billen (http://danbillen.blogspot.com/)

David Ahlen (http://davidahlen.com/store/)

John Ringhofer (http://halfhandedcloud.com/)

Jordan Geiger with Taylor Hollenbeck
(http://www.myspace.com/hospitalships & http://www.myspace.com/colonycollapsed)

Josh Atkinson (http://soundcloud.com/joshumusic)

Katlyn Conroy (http://www.myspace.com/katlynconroy)

Sam Billen (http://www.sambillen.com)

The Tenniscoats (http://www.myspace.com/tenniscoats)

Timbre (http://timbre.bandcamp.com/)

The following artists have offered to do artwork for this project:

Brandon Briscoe (www.brandonbriscoe.net)

Chad Thomas Johnston (http://chadthomasjohnston.com/)

Chi Hiu Yim (www.behance.net/chihiu)

Collin McMillan (www.facebook.com/colinphoto)

Dan Billen (www.danbillen.blogspot.com)

Danny Gibson (www.cargocollective.com/dannyjoegibson)

Erik Kling (www.erikkling.com)

John Sebelius (www.johnsebelius.com)

Justin Newhouse (http://panjiam.com/)

Matt White (www.vimeo.com/12552357)

Michael Savisky (www.savvyfilm.com)

Mircea Saucic (www.westbirch.com)

Nathan Walker (www.alltheprettycolors.com)

Preston Brigham (www.bindlestick.tumblr.com)

Story behind the project:

My name is Sam Billen and I've been doing musical Christmas projects for the past 4 years - every year I aim at doing something farther-reaching and with a stronger impact than the year before. And every year, the main focus stays the same - give something beautiful and creative away for free as a way of saying 'Merry Christmas'.

This year, I've invited a handful of my favorite musicians and artists to take part in A Light Goes On. It will be an album of music and art that will be offered as a free download and also handed out on flash drives.

I'm putting this project together because, ever since childhood, Christmas has been special to me. It sounds horribly cheesy when it's spelled out like that, but there's just something about the holiday season. The weather is cold, grey, and lonely, but somehow we enjoy it by joining together - I think it's the holiday/season that reminds us of our humanity. And art, whether in music or images, always plays a huge part in how we feel about Christmas. 

So now you may ask: Do I have to love Christmas like Sam does to enjoy this project? No, you do not - rest assured that the music and art will be good enough to enjoy year round. So whether you're really into Christmas or not - you'll be able to enjoy this project.

What will the money go toward? Well, primarily the flash drives that you'll be getting the music+art on - you'll get flash drives as a reward for donating $10 and up and whatever money is left over after shipping, etc. will go toward more flash drives to give out to people for free. 'Paying it forward' is an overused cliche, but it's probably the best way to understand the concept of this project.

If there is any money left over after the flash drives and other rewards are taken care of, it will be donated to www.water.org

On top of having the project available on flash drives, we're also going to have the whole thing up online as a free download, so even if you aren't up for donating or helping us spread the word about it, you'll still be able to get it online. Sign up for the mailing list at sambillen.com to get notified once it's available to download.

Any questions, feel free to e-mail me at sam@sambillen.com