Occupy Wall Street Nails Down its Protest Music Stripes!

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“OccupyThisAlbum” – 99 Artists on 99 Tracks for the 99%

Patriotism and Protest – inexorably bound and oftentimes indistinguishable – have always had their say through music.  Whether it be the American Revolution (“The Liberty Song”), World War I (“Over There” competing with “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier”), WWII (“God Bless America”), and the Vietnam War (“Ballad of the Green Beret” countered by “War – What is it Good For?”), and now our latest struggle – the 1% vs. the 99%.

Check out this story on Jerry Ashton’s Huffington Post blog

Without needing to think of it, we carry in our thoughts the musical heritage created by fabled artists Pete Seeger, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Peter, Paul & Mary, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton and so many more.  Where are the songs for Occupy’s time in history?  Who will write the words and music and poetry?  Will we find our Voice?

These questions have been answered in full and emphatically with the debut on May 15, 2012, of “OccupyThisAlbum,” the brainchild of executive producer Jason Samel created in collaboration with scores of musicians, industry professionals and a spectrum of supporters in business as well as the private sector.

This improbable person (no industry experience) for this task used his well-honed sales ability, networking and Twitter talents to bring artists on board.  Early on he connected with Maegan Hayward of SoundTrack Studios in NYC and her friend, Alex Emamuel, who then recruited entertainment attorney Shirley Menard.  Jason welcomed their help, and knew he had found a great team to complete this project.

What has been created?

Artists both well-known and not offered to contribute their time and talent to create tracks for an album to benefit the Occupy Movement – Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Lucinda Williams, Yoko Ono, Jackson Browne, David Crosby & Graham Nash, Patti Smith, Warren Haynes, Our Lady Peace, Thievery Corporation, UNKLE, Mogwai, DJ Logic, Immortal Technique, Toots & The Maytals, to reach a final – and symbolic – count of 99.

“100% of all monies less expenses are being donated to the Occupy Movement,” Jason declares proudly.  With the dust barely settling, he is already planning his next albums with the intention of creating a new genre of music – properly tagged as Protest Music – also with a portion of the proceeds going to OWS.

You can locate Jason Samel on Twitter as @MusicForOccupy, on Facebook as MusicForOccupy, and via email:  musicforoccupy@gmail.com.

And, not to forget – to pre-purchase, go to:  http://amzn.to/HLC8ot.