Hi everyone!

Last year we had a successful gifting project for “The Last Song I’ll Write for You” and we are hoping to do the same with “Laying Me Low” this year. The big change is that many of the international countries we gifted to last year have their own iTunes now, so we are hoping to pair donors and recipients in same country. That way, donors won’t need to convert the gifts to mp3s first.  Please fill out the form below if you wish to be a donor, if you wish to fund gifting (donor funder), or if you want to receive a legal gifted copy of “Laying Me Low.”  After you submit the form, we will match up donors and recipients.

If you’re a donor, we will email you with a list of recipients.

If you’re a recipient, please make sure you indicate which country iTunes or Amazon gift you can receive.

If you’re an international recipient, this link might be helpful in creating an iTunes account in your country and redeeming a gift.

Note: Donor Funder means you are willing to donate funds so others who can’t afford to gift but can donate their time, will do the gifting in your place, both in the USA and specially in other countries.

“Laying Me Low” at iTunes

“Laying Me Low” at Amazon

Gifting Instructions
1. Click “view in iTunes”
2. Next to “buy”, there’s a small black arrow. Click on that and choose “gift this album”
3. Follow prompts. Fill in your and recipient’s info.

More gifting instructions Here

Some other fan ideas for the gifting project for David Cook’s “Laying Me Low”:

1. Please gift to family and friends. Contact us @davidcookstreetteam@gmail.com  if funds are an issue.
2. You can “buy” only a few on iTunes and have them count a sales for D. But you can “gift” as many as you like.
3. Don’t push the song on people, just offer as a gift, a new song you love and want to share. If you’re close enough to this person, explaining the street team effort might be motivating for them to help too.
4. Ask them to gift it themselves, if they can and they wish, to however many recipients they can. This is where the ripple effect will come in and get us new fans.
5. Print out several copies of gifts you purchase. iTunes gives you that option of printing or emailing.  (Redemption codes and printing instructions can be found at bottom of THIS page) Have them with you. When you’re out and have opportunity to talk about song, you can hand one out to an interested person. This is a great way to spread it out to people you might not have an email for. you can even write in the note area: If you like the song, please consider gifting it forward.
6. Copy and print the banner above. Hand out to people.
7. Share your ideas for spreading the song.

We want you to be a part of this redesign process.  Right now, we have two ways for you to help us with preproduction work before the actual design process begins next week:

1. Submit your photos for possible inclusion in the new homepage design.
   • We are collecting photos to incorporate into the design. Please read the following rules & instructions:
     • You may submit a maximum of THREE photos.
     • Please submit only non-blurry images.
     • Please do not submit images that were taken by someone else. You must be the photographer of all images that you upload.
     • Please note that if we choose to use your photo and it is watermarked/tagged, the watermark/tag will be cropped off.  However, we will be giving credit to all of the photographers whose images we use on a separate thank you/acknowledgements page.
     • By uploading your photos, you give us permission to edit them (for color and size) as needed to fit the aesthetic of the design.
     • You retain ownership of all images that you upload. We will not attempt to sell them or use them for any purpose other than incorporating them into the website design.
     • IMPORTANT: Before uploading your images, please change the file names to include the name by which you would like to be recognized if we use your photos.  We won’t know who to credit otherwise!
     • Please don’t be sad if we don’t choose one of your photos…it doesn’t mean they’re bad photos, it just means that other images fit the design layout or aesthetic better.
     • We’re looking for photos of David of course, but we also want pictures of “ancillary” things, if you have them…guitar closeups, stage setup (pedalboards, mics), setlists, etc…just to give you a few ideas!
     • Please submit all photos by Sunday, March 10th!

     • Please go to our comemories album to submit your photos!

2. Suggest features that you would like to see incorporated into the Street Team website, or just in general.
   • We have to design with the future in mind.  Let us know what types of features you would like to see on the website!
   • We’ll take your feedback into consideration and attempt to incorporate some of the more frequently-mentioned or creative ideas if they are practical and workable.
   • Please fill out the form below if you have any ideas or feedback!

[contact-form]

Thanks for your support and contributions…we hope that you’re looking forward to the new design!

Details Here

Many of you are already very knowledgeable in last.fm and Spotify and use them regularly, but for those of you who don’t, you’ll find more information after you read about the contest.

Contest details:

Prize: Three $25 gift cards to your choice of iTunes or Amazon
When: Now through January 5 2013
How: Start at the step that fits you.
1.Sign up and create a profile on last.fm  Link for PC/Mac (FREE)

[Links for last.fm Apps for mobile devices:  iPhone or Android ]

[Links to scrobbling Apps :  CloudScrob , IScrob   ScrobbleDroid ]

Great new app for scrobbling on iPhone, iTouch, iPad, etc…  Click

2. Sign up on Spotify  Link for PC/Mac    (FREE)
[Links for mobile devices.  free Spotify app  or  the App for Android ]

Once you have downloaded it, open up your Spotify preferences by going to Edit > Preferences.  Check the box in Activity Sharing that says “Scrobble to last.fm,” and enter your last.fm username and password.  Now you’re ready to scrobble from Spotify.

3. Make a playlist  (Click +New Playlist, under Library on the left bar of your page) on Spotify) consisting of your favorite David Cook songs mixed with favorites from other artists you love, preferably not American Idol singers. This mix of artists will eventually make last.fm recognize David as similar to the others you’ve chosen for your playlist.

*For David’s songs in your playlist, use only those that are on Spotify right now, tracks from his two major label albums.  (Not idol tracks, not exclusive bonus tracks, not live tracks, not demos- these don’t help him)
*Scrobbling only David’s music doesn’t help either.  It doesn’t reach others artists’ fans or associate him with musicians similar to him. So make it a mix please, maybe 25% DC songs and 75% of other musicians.

Playlists can be short or very long. The advantage of a long playlist is that one can leave it playing longer while away from computer.

4.Tag David’s songs on last.fm (and wherever you scrobble from if available)  as rock, alternative rock, pop rock, singer-songwriter, alternative. Also, click “love” on DC songs, since last.fm tracks those too.

5. Play your playlist(s) as much as you can. Share links to your playlists through the “share” button on Spotify, either here or on Twitter (@streetteam_dc), or email to davidcookstreetteam@gmail.com. This will give the rest of us music ideas, and enter your name in the drawing of three iTunes or Amazon gift card on Dec 22nd.

For international fans who don’t have access to Spotify,

Prize: Three $10 gift cards to your choice of iTunes or Amazon

1. sign up on last.fm as above. please check links there.

2. Download the last.fm scrobbler for Mac or for PC.

Links to scrobbling Apps : CloudScrob , IScrob   ScrobbleDroid

Now you’re ready to scrobble from your listening device to last.fm

3. Make  a playlist as above on last.fm or iTunes (playlists are under library on your profile page)

4. Tag David’s songs as above

5. Share your playlists from last.fm with us by clicking the “share” button on your last.fm playlist and emailing to davidcookstreetteam@gmail.com This will get your name in the drawing of three $10 iTunes or Amazon gift cards.

Why Scrobble from Spotify

You may have seen Lisa’s reminders to stream and scrobble but may not have been sure why or how. The bottom line is that David will be paid when his music is streamed through certain websites and the more he is streamed, the more visibility he will be given online. That translates to more exposure for his music among people who may not yet have discovered his songs.

This contest can help David in two ways:

1. Streaming on Spotify will pay him money. It’s not much but it’s something and if we all do it consistently, it can add up. After we have already bought the music and gifted it, we can add streaming on Spotify as a way to support it.

Here’s an article that Brian Mansfield linked on Twitter that explains Spotify, what artists make, and how it adds up. It’s long, a paragraph from it:

Let’s take that half a cent per stream and compare that to buying a download. Owners of masters receive 70 cents from iTunes for a download. Once that sale takes place, the transaction between artist and consumer is complete. But if you are a fan of an artist or a song, and you choose to listen on Spotify, then EVERY LISTEN earns an additional half a cent. Just as a point of information, I sorted my iTunes playlist by plays, and the artist that I had listened to the most (Anais Mitchell, in case you were wondering) was over 1400 plays each on a handful of songs. Had I listened to her on Spotify, she would have actually earned 10 times the money for those particular songs. It’s the difference between buying a car and renting one. After a purchase, the transactional relationship is over. But if I’m renting (streaming), then the transactional relationship begins anew with every listen.

2. Scrobbling from Spotify or anywhere else to last.fm, adds another benefit. The playlists you make help determine who last.fm considers to be “similar to” David. By including other artists on our playlists, we help last.fm introduce him to the fans of those other artists. When last.fm makes customized recommendations to their users, this “similar to” function becomes important.

From Last.fm: You can read about artists you like, check out their most popular tracks, browse their album and find out what other artists are similar to them…..  The list of artists which you see on an artist page as being “similar” is automatically created by the Last.fm Audioscrobbler, based on our user’s listening habits: If a lot of users listen to Artist X, but also Artist Y and Z – Y and Z artists will become similar to X.

Tags are like keywords or labels that you can use to classify music – artists, albums or tracks. They are simply short descriptions. Tagging David’s songs properly will also help other users see what category most people have put him in. We’re trying to move him away from American Idol and more into rock, pop/rock.

Great resource for last.fm, Spotify, and scrobbling on DCO:      Minstrel’s blog

More on Spotify and Last Fm Here, 

Here are some of your playlists

Update:
Email from the organizer of the Thanksgiving Dinner :
I cannot thank you enough for contributing to our Thanksgiving at St. Mark’s!
Your work is so appreciated!!
Check out my blog, with pictures. Such a great day!
http://mrsalfreds.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/mutual-aid-not-charity-thanksgiving-at-st-marks/
All the Best,

Huge thanks to all of you who helped make this such a successful project.  In just four days, $2325 was raised and this took the organizers over their goal of $10,000. It feels good to be able to help make life a little better for those affected by Hurricane Sandy and to do it together as David’s fans.

Response from the organizers: 
That is absolutely amazing! I cannot thank you enough for helping make our day a huge success
It is so appreciated.
thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,
David Cook Street Team

Participants:

CDHero
Curly_Jas
Anonymous
breadmom1
Lovethemusic
MailleMaam
Anonymous
1step’s mom
YaminaC
kccatdr
OnlySuz
YoSwanny
1step
AheadofStraight
jennykeev
matilija_poppy
emrasaturngirl
magroupie
Christine4David
NEMOCookFan
minstrel
DblJerseyGirl
FrannieW (rascalete)
amalama23
venusgirl926
SashaPoodle
Eliza630
debrakay23
dcfan_22
I_am_Serenity
MsCRC
pj_sonnyny
Farber & Company CPAs, PC
Hildy07
Cheryl pnpwordhero93
Sethshomaru
CookieJamz
khatoun
jayelgee1
chele07
Addie2161
LunaticIMH
XanaduNYC

******************

It’s hard to watch how people are still suffering tremendously after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and not be moved to do something. There are areas of New York without power and not able to put a simple hot Thanksgiving dinner on the table.

We are aware that many of you have already given generously to the Red Cross relief fund. If you find that you are still able to do a bit more, we have an opportunity to help provide Thanksgiving dinner for some of those families. It is an effort linked directly to making life better for people in a community that has lost so much.

The charity is:  https://www.wepay.com/donations/thanksgiving-for-sandy-survivors

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we are collecting funds to make a group donation from David’s fans. The friendships we have made and the music we have enjoyed are counted among the things we are thankful for.

Any amount contributed will be greatly appreciated by the people who will have a chance to celebrate the holiday with a warm meal. Time is short however, so please respond as soon as you can.  We will accept donations until Tuesday November 20 in order to send the group’s contribution to the organizers on Wednesday.

For this project only, we have a different paypal address. It is important to mark your contribution as a gift so paypal does not take any fees from your gift. Please paypal your contributions to sstone@stny.rr.com

We will post the names of those who donated on the Street Team website. if you have a preference as to which name, e.g. Twitter, full or just first name, or if you prefer to remain anonymous,  please make a note of that with your paypal contribution.

If you have any questions, please email davidcookstreetteam@gmail.com  or DM @streeteam_dc on twitter.

Thank you for anything you are able to contribute to the relief effort.

The organizers of Thanksgiving Dinner for Sandy Victims were told that David Cook’s fans would be making a group donation and they were delighted. Here is their message to all of you:

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving,
David Cook Street Team

Connectivity & Web Presence

The music industry has started to count the online activity of audiences. They are measuring the many places where fans find and listen to music beyond traditional radio, like Pandora, Last.fm, YouTube, Vevo, SoundCloud.  The industry is also measuring how many hits and comments artists get on places like Wikipedia, Facebook andTwitter. If you aren’t currently participating in these services, we hope you will.

The links below take you to information about some of the services. The more you know, the more you can make your choices count.

“The Music CIA” a.k.a. Next Big Sound

• Last.fm
• Spotify

Now, David is going back to Asia, this time Singapore, and we’re offering his single again to anyone who cannot purchase it legally, at home or overseas.

To receive a gift copy of TLSIWFY:

Fill the Recipient Form

Email us at davidcookstreetteam@gmail.com

Or DM us @StreetTeam_DC

Many of David’s fans came from all over the country to watch him headline the Irish 31 Sumerfest in Tampa, Florida on Sept 8th.  Good friends, good food and drinks, great music all day topped with David Cook and Andy Skib acoustic set made this the best weekend ever!  It ranked first on HuffPost slides.

David Cook and Andy Skib at Tampa Summerfest

1. Track by track review of This Loud Morning by David. http://www.davidcookofficial.com/us/news/loud-m … ‪

2.  “Maybe the overarching theme of #thisloudmorning isn’t love or dreams, but rather inevitability” Jim Cantiello /  MTV preview article : http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1666002/david-cook-this-loud-morning.jhtml

3. Brian Mansfield’s USA Today review of #thisloudmorning    http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2011/06/david-cooks-this-loud-morning-review/1#.T-xmQ79LIlo

4. David Cook Talks #thisloudmorning.  http://www.billboard.com/features/david-cook-talks-this-loud-morning-video-1005253652.story#/features/david-cook-talks-this-loud-morning-video-1005253652.story

5. Shirley Halperin’s track by track review of #thisloudmorning.   http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/idol-worship/david-cooks-loud-morning-track-206203

6. American Songwriter review of #thisloudmorning http://www.americansongwriter.com/2011/07/david-cook-this-loud-morning/

7. David Cook behind the scenes with AOL Music for #thisloudmorning http://blog.music.aol.com/2011/06/27/david-cook-gets-ready-to-drop-new-album-releases-behind-the-sce/

8.  MTV  interview with David re #thisloudmorning: http://www.mtv.com/videos/news/668606/a-closer-look-at-david-cooks-this-loud-morning.jhtml

9. David Cook discusses ‪#thisloudmorning‬ in a two-part interview with Yahoo! Music: [Pt 1] http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/reality- … [Pt 2] http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/reality- …

10. Beatweek Magazine talks to David Cook about ‪#thisloudmorning‬ http://www.beatweek.com/coverstory/870

11. David Cook performs Live, playing selections from #thisloudmorning http://streetdate.radio.com/2011/07/26/david-cook-performs-live-playing-selections-from-new-album-this-loud-morning/

12. David Cook Sits down with OK magazine  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtrjTI-lhdQ

13. Live at Best Buy David Cook #thisloudmorning album release concert. http://www.livestream.com/liveatbestbuy/video?clipId=pla_b1449af5-6f3b-48e3-b1e4-f78d9e023239

14. Sirius XM Larry Flick interview with David Cook http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULtalrwFOcA&list=PL80F42D1CB4BABB58&index=9&feature=plpp_video

15. Walmart Soundcheck  #thisloudmorning: http://soundcheck.walmart.com/david-cook

16.  #thisloudmorning videos as posted by RCA http://www.rcarecords.com/category/tags/david-cook?page=5

17. The Last Goodbye official video

18.  Fade into Me official video:

“Global Gifting Day” —  aka the”Gift of Music Day”– was more successful than we ever imagined and kept us busy fulfilling gifts of music up until…well…pretty much now!

A big thank you to all of our wonderful street team donors, workers and cheerleaders!  And thank you to all the recipients for signing up and for your patience as we worked to fulfill the demand.

In case you missed it, “The Last Song I’ll Write for You” quickly bounded up the Amazon singles chart on Wednesday as “#thegiftofmusic” trended #2 worldwide on twitter!  And, as of late, last night (Friday), “The Last Song I’ll Write for You” continued to chart in the top 100 songs and was listed as the #2 top rated single on Amazon!

Way to go TEAM!

Again, thanks to you all.