Old Git's Hat...

For the last two years we have been deliberately running The '22 on a Non Profit basis with a Richard Prioresque 'Brewsters Millions' styled 'Don't Vote For Me' approach to actualy making any money for ourselves. In fact, we've deliberately gone out of our way to make 'zip didley squat' when it comes to money (and will probably continue to do so until we start making our own programs and video content at some point in the near future) so our motto is presently " money and riches we do not have, but an incredibly large and annoying gob we do have and this we can give you for nothing!"

  Instead of being millionaires, we thought we would just continue promoting the worlds best independant artisis and try to help new up and coming talents of all kinds try to get off the ground with their careers.

Over the last thirty years we have seen a large amount of gifted and talented people seemingly fall by the wayside without ever recieving the acknowledgement they ever realy deserved. When 'I were a lad' (in the early eighties) one of the biggest hurdles for new bands was actualy raising the cash to get their music recorded to a professional standard in a real professional studio and I knew of countless young musicians who would fork out a small fortune for a studio session only to find themselves in a room with two microphones,blown speakers, faulty amps, a second hand 8 track with twisted tape, and acoustics that would make Hendrix on a Les Paul sound more like George Formby on a ukelele.In the seventies and eighties London, New York, LA and all the major cities of the west were awash with 'so called' studios and fraudsters out to rip off young talent, and hooking up with the major labels could sometimes prove just as perilous for those wanting to persue their art too. Apparently, the fake studios and ripp off merchants are still just as plentifull today as ever..yet thankfully the internet and modern technology has empowered artists just that little bit more in making their talents more accessable to a larger audience without having to mortgage their entire life first.

  In spite of the all the extra opportunities now available for todays young artists we are still stumbling across many who are struggling just to get the funds together to record their first ep or download release and we're still shockingly finding high quality acts who have played and toured for up to a decade without ever releasing an album or an ep!

  We'd like to change this by starting a fund specificaly to help new bands get into a real studio with real sound engineers and record a real demo, ep and /or album and get past that initial hurdle that so many are still falling at. The average price for a real professional engineer and studio session is approximately £250 per day , so funding one band could be anywhere between £250 to £3,OOO. Naturaly, once a demo is made we'd help out with publicising and getting works submitted to the main networks for sale as downloads etc etc...

  Ten percent of all income generated via the site through affiliations and advertising will go straight into the fund ...so if you're a bit strapped for cash you can still help out by buying your christmas pressies via our Tradedoubler MyShop search engine ( just type in what you're looking for in the search box eg playstation 3, wii, games, guitars, computers , posters, music etc and you will immediadtley be given a list of all the major UK retailers partnered up to our Tradedoubler MyShop who will deliver in your area)...as a certain UK retailer might say...'every little helps'

  Other areas we intend to support with our 'Old Gits Hat' fund will hopefully include the equipping of musicians, artists, authors, film makers, singer/ songwriters etc with the necessary equipment to carry out their works..this could include something as simple as a guitar,a Korg,or a high speed camera, a canvas or a laptop, to something a bit more practical for day to day living such as child care for performing mums just starting out, transport or even help with education or accomodation...The aim is simply to support as many artists as is financialy possible, make a positive difference in their lives and hopefully inspire one or two of them to do likewise.

  To donate to our Old Git's Hat Fund you can do so online here (-though please note that any donations exceeding £1700 will not be able to be processed at present -)

 For further details on being able to assist the Old Git's Hat Fund and for newsletters giving a full financial breakdown of every penny, cent, shekel and yen recieved, spent and held in trust then

please email : theoldgitshatfund@theryanoriain22.com.

  Other ways to contribute to the fund include ...Building your own website. Yup, we use 'Sitemaker Live' software from Moonfruit to power The Ryan O'Riain22 and for every new website account ordered via our link moonfruit.com passes a few extra shekels into our account to be added to our fund. It realy is one of the easiest and most comprehensive affordable sitemaking tools in the world today ...explore their wide ranging packages with a free 14 day trial here...

  Or, if your strapped for time and have the creative digital co-ordination skills of a hippo's backside we could make a slap up site for you and all at a very reasonable price too (with a percentage also going into the Old Gits Hat )...for full prices contact thebigape@theryanoriain22.com or use the contact slip on the contact page.

"OK " You're thinking, "So you've started off your little fund, but how do we know that you're not going to send new bands into a tatty squat to record on a twisted 8 track and shove the money in your own back pockets too..?"

  Fair question.

  Well firstly, the fund is in the early process of set up ...so we are still laying the legal foundations and have yet to finalise the red tape and registration details eg. will it be a registered charity or a social enterprise fund or both..? (To register a charity in the UK you need to have a proven anual turnover of £5,000) either way the full organisational details are still to be finalised and once there are a full list of trustees,organisational and registration details (where applicable) they will be made available on this page...hopefully by January 31st 2010 (so please feel free in holding off on any planned donations until the foundations are firmly in place and properly displayed).

  With regard to buying 'studio' time for new bands etc ...we will only use studios, sound technicians, engineers and producers who have a proven track record in the music industry and are all ready respected engineers in their field and respective nations. The engineers and studios we plan to use, fund and send new noteworthy artists to are to be found in our upcoming 'Highly Recommended list', so hopefully a quick browse through this list should allay anyones fears about any dodgy dealings (and some of those recommended will already have sound or video samples somewhere on our site).

Further updates on services and people pertaining to the Old Gits Hat will be appearing soon so keep checking back for regular updates...

  In the meantime, if you are desperate to put put your coffers into a trust fund that already supports upcoming artists and is fully registered then we would highly recomend The Roisin Dubh Trust, which is Irelands main charity formed to honor the memory of the late Phil Lynott (musician, poet and founder of Irish rock band Thin Lizzy) and is dedicated to supporting musicians and artists of every kind wherever possible . More information on the works of the trust are to be found here...

  Mairtin O'Riain and Martin Ryan

  The Ryan O'Riain22

  December 2008