The Dream Is Valid: A Benefit Compilation for Kiva.org

So this is it.  After almost a year in the making (but mostly in the waiting), the Zaadz Visionary Music community has finally started to walk the talk.  Our first group project, The Dream Is Valid:  A Benefit Compilation for Kiva.org, featuring sixteen awesome songs and one awesome painting by ZVM members, is now available at Omstream.com for whatever you're willing to pay.

Every cent of profit from its "name your price" sales go directly to sustainable business microloans in the developing world.  It's what I call "putting play to work":  the artists and distributor all get exposure, the audience gets beautiful music, and the poor get fed by our entertainment money.  This album is Exhibit A in the case for the perfect complimentarity of art, sustainability, and business.  While doing what we are already doing, with the resources and infrastructure we already have, we can rewire our culture to yield more for everyone.

Kiva.org's president, Premal Shah, had this to say:

“The support and generosity of this community of musicians, and everyone who purchases the album at Omstream, can make a real difference in the lives of the poor who may not otherwise have access to needed capital to build their businesses so that they can send their children to school, afford medical care, and pull themselves out of the poverty cycle.”

Needless to say, it's been incredibly satisfying to watch Zaadz Visionary Music rally together and make this happen.  Here's the ZVM press release:

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At Zaadz Visionary Music, we are motivated by our belief in the power of music to effect positive change.  Music has always been a unequaled organizer of people - over one hundred million dollars is spent on music every day in the United States.  That's an enormous pool of resources and attention that could be harnessed to make the world a better place while still enjoying ourselves.  When musicians give their creative gifts in support of loving effort, and audiences exercise their purchasing power to support that effort, all of us get to help and have fun at the same time - to "put play to work."

Our first group project is this benefit compilation for Kiva.org - an organization that arranges microloans for entrepreneurs in developing nations.  Everyone involved, including our kind hosts at Omstream, has relinquished their profit from the sales of this album so it can go directly to empowering sustainable business practices in local economies all over the planet.  Not just once, but over and over - as our microloans are repaid and album sales continue, this compilation will be the center of an ever-expanding wave of global support.

The Dream Is Valid is a reminder to not just rest in peace, but to act from it - because even if this life is an illusion, it's the only one we have.  And now, The Dream Is Valid for many more of the hardworking people in the developing world, who have a new ally in their struggle against the tide of globalism.

But as much as this is a project for the greater good, it is proof that socially-conscious music can sound awesome, too.  It's been an honor to work with the diversity of incredible talent represented on this collection - visionary musicians, every one of them.  Enjoy the tunes, and rest easy knowing that your entertainment money is making a difference.

love
Michael
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...And here's the gallery of everyone who contributed to the compilation.  Listen to their music, then buy it.  Send them friend invitations, and offer them hugs.  If you want your music on the next one, or you want to help promote this or future efforts, email me.  Because this is what it's all about.