Experiments EP - photo by Lee Jenkins
Hello everyone :)
It's a really exciting time for me, so first of all (and most importantly) I want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you for your support, enthusiasm, and encouragement over the last year. You guys have been more than amazing and I feel like now is a good time to fill you in a bit more on what I'm up to, and how the project is going…
How the Florrie Project is Funded
Everything involved within my music project is paid for 100% by the money that I make - that means recordings, management, videos, my band, press agents etc etc
So this is how it works …The first thing I did once I’d decided to stop the in house drumming, and dedicate myself 100% to becoming a recording artist, was to try and get a sync for my music. Getting my music on an advert or in a film can really help build an audience, and generate income. I went to my publishers (Warner Chappell) and introduced myself to the lovely people in their sync team. Two weeks later they asked if I was interested in writing music for a perfume campaign for the famous french fashion & fragrance house Nina Ricci. I looked at the brief and wrote 2 songs which I then sent off with a short video clip of me singing them. Lalala! A week or so later I was asked to go to Paris, and sang one of my songs accapella to the board of directors. It was terrifying, but it worked, and the next day I was offered the chance to front their new world wide campaign! WOW.
I did a 10 day shoot in Paris and agreed to represent the brand by doing gigs at various worldwide launches. I perform all my own songs plus my version of the Blondie classic “Sunday Girl”. I get paid for doing these appearances as well as the fee I was given for appearing in the film. This is one of the ways that I support what I’m doing.
As well as this i get paid an advance once a year for my songwriting and publishing by Warner Chappell. The money that I get from both these sources helps me to keep doing the things that aren’t making any money (yet!), but are really important. I love gigging and getting out there to play for you guys, and although it doesn’t always pay for itself - I lose around £450 per gig when I am on tour, the experience is invaluable and it’s the only way to make sure my live show is the best it can be. However, I’m getting lots of offers offers of bigger gigs, like supporting BRYAN FERRY this summer in a roman amphitheatre in the south of France (!!!!). It’s gigs like this that help pay for the gigs where I lose money.
Along with the paid gigs, my music also continues to pick up syncs. For example "Left too late" a song from my previous EP has recently been selected for a Scandinavian TV advert for a Fashion company. They’ll pay a fee for using both the song and the recording. All of this money is 100% profit which I can then put back into the project. It’s SUPER exciting when stuff like that happens cause it means I can keep doing what I’m doing!! AWW YEAH.
And lastly, I want to thank you guys for buying my tracks on iTunes, my t-shirts and vinyl, and coming to the gigs.
In total the project makes more money than it spends, which allows me to keep my independence :)
PHEW. Now we’ve got that bit done, I wanna talk to you about….
Major Labels
A lot of you come up to me at gigs and say “I can’t believe you’re not signed!”
I want to make it clear that it is my choice to stay independent, BUT at the same time I am absolutely NOT anti label and I am definitely not on some sort of crusade!! I just want to succeed and keep moving forward. For me right now it’s about gigs, releases, videos, building a fan base (you guys!), and making sure I look after you guys too :) - all that sort of stuff, never giving in, never worrying about how long this is gonna take, cause I’m in it for long run!!
As I mentioned a while back, I continue to get a lot of enquiries from major labels in the UK and, very importantly, North America. If anything can tell me that I am on the right road, it is enthusiasm from North America for an unsigned UK based artist. So, when the time is right, I’ll find the best one to partner up with.
Music
As much as I LOVE both of my EP's I don’t think my music is particularly “chart friendly” right now, but I have this incredible opportunity to make the music I want to…AND you guys like listening to it, which is the most important thing!
I’m not trying to follow the trends of the day and I’ll continue to put out material that I love and enjoy making. I hope one day enough people will like my music for it to become “chart friendly” but without specifically trying to achieve that. I’ve heard the expression “chasing a hit” and I don’t think I’d be much good at it to be honest. I obviously want to be successful but I also want to keep being me.
Having said that (fear not my friends) "Call 911" has not been forgotten!!! Of all my songs I think this one is the most “friendly” to the radio waves so I’m gonna get stuck into preparing the definitive version of this song, which will be released later in the year, hopefully around October! YEEEEEHAAAAA! COME GET YOUR BEAT BACK! boomboooomboombo
RIGHT, back to the EP! Iv’e got a new video coming out for a track off the new EP – “Experimenting with rugs” THIS THURSDAY, a little something for you before the EP next week!! I hope you like it!
I’ve also collaborated with Dolce and Gabbana on a short film with another new song “I took a little something” as the soundtrack. Its not a music video as such, more of a cool fashion/music project. They’ve been great to work with, and very supportive!
Style
I’ve met some incredible people in the last 12 months particularly in the fashion world, and I want to give a special mention here to two in particular. Richard Mortimer and Phoebe Arnold. They are the creative directors on the non-music side of the project, and help shape the images you guys see in my photos and videos. They know all sorts of amazing people (like Price James who directed the Begging Me video) and have pulled so many favors…from shoots to shoes!! They’re brilliant.
PHEW!! Well, I’m JUST about finshed ;) Guess you guys might need a little nap now? It’s a lot to take in but I think it’s important that you know whats going on… BYE! X
Monday, August 29, 2011 at 12:32AM 
