[Neil]

And after the Bandwidth Benefit Festival:


Dear members,

This e-mail is well overdue but I’ve been hanging on as long as I could so I could give you the very latest news regarding the future of aberdeen-music.com. Remember that Bandwidth Festival event a wee while ago? Well, I have good news for you all. It was a complete success!

First, how much money was raised? Well, as most of you that are reading this e-mail actually attended at least one of the events I think you all have the right to know. After all – it was your money at one point! Here is the breakdown of what was raised:

Day 1 - Moshulu Event - £800 (at least)
Day 2 – Dr. Drakes Event - £300
Day 3 – Lemon Tree Event - £400
The Donation Bucket - £100
Previous PayPal Donations - £110

This makes a grand total of: £1710

Pretty impressive stuff I think you will all agree. Most of the money has still to be collected and banked but that is my fault more than anything else. One more reason why this e-mail is so late is simply because I’ve had very little spare time recently to concentrate on aberdeen-music.com. But the money has been raised and this goes a very long way to securing the web site’s future.

As some of you may know aberdeen-music.com’s new home has been online for a number of weeks now. While many people were frantically running around making the Bandwidth Festival the huge success it was I was quietly working in the background shopping around for a good deal on a dedicated web server. You may remember that I stated in my last e-mail to you all that it would require £3500 a year to keep aberdeen-music.com going. This was an estimate and a pessimistic one at that. I can now confirm for you that the new, actual annual running costs for aberdeen-music on a dedicated web server will be only £2400 a year.

Want even more good news? I’ve also been busy speaking to a number of people who have come forward and asked to become official sponsors of aberdeen-music.com. Already the web site has three proud sponsors contributing collectively £105 a month to the web site. And I’m continuing negations with a further three potential sponsors at this moment in time. Those of you good at math can quickly see that even if monthly sponsorship money fluctuates (as it almost certainly will) that when combined with the money raised from the Bandwidth Festival the end result is that aberdeen-music.com is secure for at last a year – if not longer. Please take time to support our sponsors by clicking on their advertisements and visit their web sites. I’ve tried to ensure that any aberdeen-music.com official sponsors will be sponsors that are relevant to the audience of the web site. Remember that by supporting them, you are indirectly supporting aberdeen-music.com as well.

Due to the overwhelming success of the Bandwidth Festival I really would like to see this become a regular annual event. This would ensure that the funds required to keep aberdeen-music.com would always be there and ensure its long term survival. I intend early in the second half of next year to set-up another working group to help organise such an event. So remember to keep an eye out for announcements if you want to get involved next year!

And so the new dedicated web server has been purchased, built and configured. What next? Well, the big move has been organised and I urge you all to read the following important post very carefully:

The Big Move - Important Information

The move is going to be a big operation and hopefully a successful one. Yes, aberdeen-music.com may be closed for up to 3 days but I can assure you all it will be worth it in the end!

And so I would like to end this e-mail with my very overdue expression of sincere thanks and gratitude to all those involved in the Bandwidth Festival. From those of you who attended, to the musicians that played, to the volunteers that made it all happen. Thank you so very much. You have successfully saved the web site!

Many thanks,

Neil.