VAST isn’t coming to Boston’s Harper’s Ferry for another month, but leading man Jon Crosby had exciting news about the upcoming album “Me and You,” set to release on VAST’s website next week.
The full-length album will cost $1.99 to buy and $0.60 of every album sold will go to one of seven to 10 charities Crosby and his manager choose. Each person who buys the album will get to choose which charity the money is sent to.
“I feel like [the charity idea] is fresh and we always try to do interesting things,” Crosby said about the choice to donate a third of each album’s cost to charity. “We’re really proud of this album, and we want it to reach more people than April did.”
Though the charities have not yet been selected, Crosby has a few he is seriously considering. Among them are the Victoria Fund, which helps victims of the fires in Australia; The Innocence Project, which is a group of lawyers who help people get fair trials; and Smile Train, which helps families pay expenses for their children who get surgery.
“Because the internet is global, it’s been hard because our fans are all over the world,” said Crosby, who tried to pick charities that would appeal to a wide variety of fans. He wanted to try to help those all over the world, not just in America or other places that are struggling.
The album will be released on VAST’s website (www.realvast.com) over the next few weeks for $1.99, but will not be released on iTunes and Amazon.com until May. A hard copy of the album, signed by the band, will sell for $10.
“We believe records have been too expensive for a long time and that’s hurt the music industry,” said Crosby. “If people can get something for free, we better sell it for cheap.”
Crosby said linking charities to the album seemed like the right addition to this album. Since he has been producing his own albums since 2005, Crosby doesn’t have to worry about hiking album costs because he has to pay a middle man and record company.
“If more bands were to do these types of things, it would be an injection into the music community, because I feel right now the music is kind of stagnant,” Crosby said.
To find out more about VAST, stay tuned to Blast next week when we release the full Jon Crosby interview.
Leave a Reply