Demos for a Difference, which is currently streaming on BandCamp, is a charity compilation album featuring over 160 artists from around the wold. The proceeds from this album benefits the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. BandCamp has announced it is waiving its revenue share of this and all albums sold on July 3.
The album features artists ranging from poets and comedians to musicians from the worlds of hip-hop, R&B, rock, folk and every genre in-between. New Jersey music fans (particularly of the Asbury scene) will recognize such artists as: Joshua Van Ness, Chill Smith, Levy & The Oaks, Bryan Hansen, Blue Vervain, Matt Cook, The Extensions, Bone and Marrow, Yawn Mower, Experiment 34, Reese Van Ripper, Natalie Farrell, Tara Dente, Renee Maskin (Lowlight), Jess Alaimo, Rachel Ana Dobken, Dave and Tom (formerly of The Vaughns), Jackson Pines, Brandon Broderick (Morningside Lane), Dentist, The Brixton Riot, Morningside Lane, Geez Louise, Julian Fulton, Lou Panico (Levy & The Oaks), The Foes of Fern, Jerzy Jung, Will Blakely, Joe Ruff (Afraid Brigade), Mike Chick (of Yawn Mower), Bobby Mahoney, Fairmont, Tommy Strazza, Jim Testa, and our house band, The Clydes.
According to organizers, all artists who contributed to the Demos for a Difference compilation album were not asked to sign over any exclusivity and are free to use their tracks however they please. The album will be available to purchase as a digital download for $10 with the option to contribute more.
The project began in the wake of the national protests after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The organizers of Demos for a Difference began reaching out toe artists for submissions and according to press release “challeng[ed] them to let their art go out into the world unvarnished, unedited, and incomplete by contributing a demo version of an original piece.” The project was originally a New Jersey-based one, but it quickly grew to a national then international project.
Here are a few words from the organizers and participants…
“Art is what artists have to give to the world. And when we come together, we are far more than the sum of our parts. That’s why Demos for a Difference was created — to take what we have and use our collective power to put it to use in the fight for true equality in the United States and around the world,” said Brian Erickson, organizer of Demos for a Difference and an Asbury Park, New Jersey -based musician who performs as a solo artist and with his band The Extensions. “The NAACP has been fighting for fair, just, and equal treatment of Black people in America for over 80 years. I hope this project will help them continue elevating Black voices.”
“I’m very honored to be a part of this project. So many great artists are involved, and the movement behind this project is something personal to me as a Black man,” said Will Blakey, a musician who contributed to the compilation album as a member of the Bryan Hansen Band. “Too many people of color aren’t properly represented by the law. This partnership with the NAACP looks to make sure that things like that don’t continue to happen.”
“This isn’t just an African-American problem, this is a human problem,” said KL Martin, CEO of artist management firm 3143 Management and a contributor to the compilation as a standup comedian. “To watch one group of individuals based on the color of their skin be mistreated for an extended period of time is outright wrong. And while I’m not saying that this project will suddenly make that go away or lessen the effects, it is a start in the right direction by bringing musicians, poets, and everything in between together under what I consider ‘the great uniter’ — ART.”
“For me, the timing was uncanny,” said Joshua Van Ness, who contributed the song “The Brightest Star” featuring Mike Sarge. “I wrote this song and the very next day I was approached about this project. Being a part of our community coming together for equality is really special.”
