Aloha Everybody,

First off - mahalo for responding to my call and connecting with me on facebook (fb). I am having the best time connecting with all of you. I had no idea this could be a reality. I was resisting fb like no one’s business, as I had been kicked off it for impersonating myself in ‘09… arrgh! And the hoops they wanted me to go through to prove I was me, were just too much to bear. So, I just said, “Enough!” In April, I tried again after being pressured from so many of you… Thank you! You know who you are!

That said, I know that there are some of you who do not have a fb account, aren’t allowed to, or maybe can’t access it because of the country you live in. And/or you just don’t want one. Selfishly, I would like to have everyone on my newsletter list in the same place, but never mind. If this is your story, please know I would love to make a deeper connect with you as well, and so I am investigating Wordpress - a Blogging Host - as an option. If someone has a better suggestion please let me know.

I want to take a little time here to say, ‘Yes it is me!’ you’re talking to on fb. I will not always be able to chat to you like I am right now, life is sure to get hectic in the coming months. And for those who may not have heard, I’ve sent out an invitation to the first 5,000 people to join my personal Toni Childs fb profile at:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002280371770

And, please while you are at it join up to my band page here::

listn.to/ToniChilds

Joining my personal profile gives us a greater back and forth connection… instead of the typical one-way communication the band page allows. I have to say I’m loving getting to connect with you! I particularly like reading what’s happening in your personal lives, or what is challenging you and what you’re doing to meet it! And "liking" my band page will keep you up to date on when I am playing near to you and when my new record will be available ... and lots more!

Changing topics now, my main purpose for writing you today is to let you know that ‘A Beautiful Life’ and ‘Talk’ are now available. Purchasing them will give me the funds I need to make my new album ‘Citizens of the Planet’. I started recording July 1st, 2011. Every day, one of you asks me when the album will be released, and/or when I am coming to play in your area. I want to address both of these questions, and I want to share with you a little about what I’ve learned over the last three years, and the crazy dream I have to make music industry history!

During the last three years, I’ve learned what it is really like to be an independent artist. After Keep the Faith was mixed and mastered, the plan was to license it to three distribution companies around the world. In the end, I licensed Keep the Faith to only two: MGM for Australia and New Zealand; and Savoy’s 429 Records for the US, Japan, Canada and the UK. I had meetings set up with three different distribution companies in Europe, until they and I found out (a day before the meetings) that 429 Records had illegally sold licensing rights to two companies for Europe. These illegal licenses impacted six territories, essentially killed touring and promotional opportunities for the whole of Europe, closing the door on my ability to find the right distributors for Keep the Faith in Europe, and causing my European booking agent to pull out - because without a company promoting ‘Keep the Faith’ no concert promoter would take the risk.

In the end, I had to hire Peter Gabriel’s Attorney to find out who the companies were, and stop them from selling Keep the Faith. I looked into suing 429 Records, but in the end, I do not have the funds… and I could not find a suitable lawyer in New York to take my case.

Legal hurdles aside, I have to say that as a songwriter, this is an incredible time in my life. I am feeling new shoots of creative possibilities manifesting, and last year I made a commitment to myself that I would take my power back! I refuse to see myself as a victim of the music business any longer, but as a survivor. Regardless of my age or the state of the music business, I have set my intention to continue to make records, and tour, not just in Australia, but the rest of the world as well.

As I began exploring various avenues for funding ‘Citizens of the Planet’, I realized how important it is to become truly independent. If I want to continue to do what I love to do, I need to let go entirely of what has been the status quo for singer songwriters, and become a ‘bona fide’ business-woman as well as an artist.

And so, I’ve set an intention to become a ‘sustainable’ independent recording artist who is able to release albums and tour globally without the need for record companies, concert promoters or booking agencies for years to come. In order for my intention to become a reality I’ve needed to confront a couple of my beliefs I have: one, that wearing a business hat will somehow diminish my ability to write good music; and two, that I may not be deserving of realizing such a lofty goal.

Late last year, Amy Harris, my Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and I completed a business plan that shows a sustainable model is in fact possible, structures the main components of my business, i.e. recording and touring, into two distinct companies, and spells out how much capital needs to be raised to make my dream a reality. Big Mother Records LLC is born.

As some of you know I started touring again at the end of ’08, just as the financial global meltdown was starting to hit. Since then I’ve had the privilege to play in front of over 100,000 people in Australia alone. Working with Premier Artists (a booking agency), acting as my own promoter (i.e., taking all the risk) I traveled far and wide to play for loyal fans and new faces alike. There were great shows, ecstatic audiences. But some valuable mistakes, missed opportunities and unforeseen falls in currency rates all helped to galvanize my resolve to cut out the middlemen, and create my own solid independent touring company, designed specifically to sustain my ability to tour over the coming years. 14 countries around the world to start. Big Mother Promotions LLC is born.

I need a fair amount of capital to fulfill my intention to set up my business model - 2.2 million to be exact!

Don’t be scared, you don’t have to give a lot of your energy in terms of dollars, pesos, pounds or euros. But, if you find me worthy, I would like to enlist your help to reach my goal to sell 2.2 million copies of ‘A Beautiful Life’ & 'Talk' by enlisting your friends and neighbors to also support my effort at a $1.30 per download..

Some will say this is impossible and others will say improbable, but there is a method to my madness that I will go into at the end of this letter, including special step-by-step instructions that will make this intention possible.

For the record this is not… and I repeat… this is not about making a lot of money. The harsh reality is, it takes $500,000 to float just a single tour, and that is without making a dime. That is just what it costs to put me on the road. This infusion of capital is the only way I can see to fulfill both of our desires, [yours] for me to play in your city, [mine] to live my purpose, and continue to make albums for the rest of my life without some music biz executive telling me I’m over the hill, or touring me doesn’t serve his record company interests. Your belief in me will enable me to put together an incredible team of people to fulfill our collective dream.

Thank you so much for taking the time to learn more about what I’m wanting to create, and allowing my music to be a part of your life… I am humbled by the awesomeness of that everyday!

peace, love and gratitude = aloha

t

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Get Involved

A Private Concert with Toni Childs - POA

Private shows have taken place recently at several wineries in New Zealand and the ski fields of Idaho. For more information about private or corporate events contact us at info@tonichilds.com
"Just want say thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you. It was an amazing show and there would not have been one unecstatic person leaving that venue..." Grant Taylor, Valli Wines, Queenstown, New Zealand.

$5000 contribution – New Years Eve 2013 for Lovers

This buys you two tickets to a private New Years Eve Concert on my property – Prosperity Farm; seven-days accommodation on the beautiful island of Kauai, a day-long beach tour experience ending with dinner at Hanalei’s Post Cards Restaurant; and the week ends with a jam at a local north shore club that will include special guests from Kauai’s own talented singer songwriters; two t-shirts; two Special Gratitude Edition Cds;, and ‘A Beautiful Life’ download.
Please feel free to share this invitation with your friends!!

For a taste of this beautiful island have a look through this slideshow.

$1250 contribution – An Evening with Toni Childs

This buys you an evening with me: four tickets to a Toni Childs concert of your choice, dinner with me, after concert drinks, four t-shirts, four Special Gratitude Edition Cds, and ‘A Beautiful Life’ download.

$1000 contribution - A Limited Edtition Toni Childs ipod touch Box Set

A 4G iPod Touch with a personally engraved thank you message from me. iPod Touch will include my new album Citizens of the Planet plus a plethora of exclusive content: a personal thank you video message from me and a daily video log from my Victoria recording sessions; my entire back catalog, old and new music videos, studio out takes and previously unreleased songs.

$750 contribution – Cocktails with Toni Childs

This buys you two tickets to a Toni Childs concert of your choice, after concert drinks with me, two t-shirts, two Special Gratitude Edition Cds, and ‘A Beautiful Life’ download.

$500 contribution - A Limited Edtition Toni Childs ipod nano Box Set

A 4G iPod Nano with a personally engraved thank you message from me. iPod Nano will include my new album Citizens of the Planet plus exclusive content:. It will be packed with my entire back catalog, studio out takes and some very rare previously unreleased songs.

$450 contribution – Breakfast with Toni

This buys you two tickets to a Toni Childs concert of your choice, morning after Breakfast with me, two t-shirts, two Special Gratitude Edition Cds, and ‘A Beautiful Life’ download.

$250 contribution – Toni Childs Date Night Concert

This buys you two tickets to a Toni Childs concert of your choice, two t-shirts, two Special Gratitude Edition Cds and ‘A Beautiful Life’ download.

$150 contribution – Toni Childs Concert 5-star

This buys you one ticket to a concert of your choice, a t-shirt, a Special Gratitude Edition Cd, and ‘A Beautiful Life’ download.

$95 contribution – Toni Childs Concert 4-star

This buys you a ticket to a concert, a Special Gratitude Edition Cd, and ‘A Beautiful Life’ download.

$45 contribution – Special Gratitude Edition CD

This buys you one Special Gratitude Edition CD, Gratitude Edition CD, a 7x7 inch hard-bound book w/ CD attached to the inside front cover. This book will be filled with photos, poems, short stories and random thoughts, and will list your name as a contributor on the first page of the book, and “A Beautiful Life’ download.

$25 contribution - A download of "Keep The Faith" Album

Hanalei Music Company, LLC © 2006 Produced by David Tickle, David Ricketts and Toni Childs. Keep the Faith features “Because You’re Beautiful,” the original song featured in the V-Day documentary “Until The Violence Stops.” Composed by Toni Childs, David Ricketts and Eddie Free the song received the 2004 Emmy award for “Outstanding Music & Lyrics.”

Before going into other contribution possibilities, I’d like to add what may be a little incentive. If we are able to make our 2.2 million dollar goal by August 1st, I will host a Big MotHer Camp at Burning Man this year. I wanted to be able to play there this year, and this would give me a fantastic reason, the funds to do it, and great company to enjoy it! What a wonderful way to celebrate! Burning Man starts 29th of August to September 5th. What are you doing for Labor Day this year?

Now what’s (((((((((Buddha))))))) about this, is that it is totally achievable! All that need happen is every one of us makes it a goal to get each of our facebook friends to download ‘A Beautiful Life’. With a little bit of effort, this would happen in a matter of a couple of weeks at most, or even in days!

Other Contribution Possibilities

1) Buy ‘A Beautiful Life’ and/or 'Talk' as a download
It’s a taste of what’s coming, and it is a one off! We have set a suggested price of $1.30 but you are free to change this if you wish to contribute more. The lyrics are not final and it is early days in the song’s development, but I am really hoping you’ll love the energy as much as I do.

2) My facebook community, I would like you to create an event that links to, the ‘Beautiful Life’ URL, and invite your fb friends..

3) Send a personal note to your friends on facebook or on email asking them to purchase ‘A Beautiful Life’ and/or 'Talk' and why. Or cut and paste the following to your friends and family:

Subject: A Beautiful Life

Dear xxxxx,

Toni Childs, one of my greatest musical loves, is launching a new track and trying to establish a revolutionary new recipe for artistic integrity and independence in the music biz. Her goal is to reach 2.2 million downloads so she is able live her purpose, and her purpose is to inspire and connect people on a global level. Toni wants to do this independently without corporate support or sponsorship, and turn the music industry on its head! Toni’s music is passionate, healing and she is a raw force to be reckoned with.

And though she’s respected by her peers, been nominated for three Grammies, and won an Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics, she is salt of the earth soul food who’s voice is penetrating and healing.

http://www.tonichilds.com

Thanks….

Please don’t forget to forward this to all your friends… !!

Yours xxxxx

4) Forward this email to your friends and family.

You can access all of the above on our Contributions Page

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