Austin Business Journal by Sandra Zaragoza, Staff Writer
Thursday, October 13, 2011
A couple of musical do-gooders want Austinites to buy some tunes to help funding-challenged schools.
Bedrock, a startup aimed at fundraising for schools through the sale of all-digital music compilations, launched this fall as a pilot program at several Austin-area schools. The first album boasts some of Austin’s biggest artists, including Explosions in the Sky, The Band of Heathens, Group Fantasma, The Wooden Birds and Sahara Smith.
Bedrock is a partnership between music industry veterans Jan Mirkin, Lisa Hickey and Mellie Price. The Bedrock platform enables students to leverage social media tools to sell the albums to family and friends.
The album is available for downloading here.
Similarly, Theatre Action Project, a nonprofit that provides arts education to young people, wants music lovers to check out Sara Hickman’s album “Best of Times,” a 38-track compilation featuring Willie Nelson, Robert Earl Keen and many other Texas artists. Hickman said the Texas Legislature’s decision to cut funding for the arts inspired her to offer a benefit album.
“I wanted to utilize my position as the Official State Musician of Texas to promote families being creative together,” Hickman said. “I knew thousands and thousands of Texas children were missing out on what art, music, theater, dance and writing can bring to their lives.”
Hickman’s goal is to raise $250,000 for TAP. “Best of Times” is available at Waterloo Records.