A little question out of curiosity:
Is it common in the US that a composer finance a CD recording of his/her music with own funds?
I was contacted by an american production company who wondered if they could record my orchestral music. First I couldn't understand why they have contacted me at all. My orchestral music is available on hire from my publisher for anyone, and their US agent is Boosey & Hawkes so it's not like it's hard to find. After some e-mail correspondence it turned out they wanted me to finance this recording with my own funds(!). Is this really a common deal for composers in the US?
My chamber music is currently available on 5-6 different CDs and a portrait CD with my music will be released later this fall. The total cost for the portrait CD was approx. $20.000 and was partlly funded by the National Council for Cultural Affairs. The rest of the cost was payed by the record company. I haven't payed one cent. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever heard of a composer of orchestral concert music in Europe that has funded anything in a CD production. In Europe, at least to my knowledge, it's the record company, not the composer, that seeks funds for a CD production.
I can understand if an aspiring film composer wants to record some music with a real orchestra to get more gigs. Or for a composer of concert music that doesn't get his music played. But I already have a record deal! With a company that funds everything.
Frankly, I was a bit insulted by this proposition. But maybe I'm just touchy...