Temporary Suspension of $1000 Bounties
OWEN EARL 07 October 2023
Writin’
Howdy!
It is with great sadness in my heart that I announce a temporary suspension of the $1000 bounties. There is neither the public interest, nor, more importantly, the money to continue the bounties.
I believe very strongly in the mission of the Cowboy Collective, and that is why I spent $10,000 of my own money on the first round of the bounties. Friends and family of mine signed up to make music videos, as well as strangers abroad. Thanks to the first round I was able to meet my dear friends Ben Swithen and Ava Liversidge, whom are now bosom buddies. I am very grateful to everyone who participated in the first round.
Over a year ago I secured funding for a second round, and for over a year the bounties have gone unclaimed. This is in part my fault, as I don’t know how to advertise the Cowboy Collective, and have not put as much effort into learning how to do so as I could have. Unfortunately I think it is also in part due to a lack of interest on the part of the general public. I thought $1000 to make a minute music video would catch the world by storm, but I guess most people thought it was too good to be true and assumed it was either a scam, or the $1000 was not something real, just language to inspire images of the old west.
In any case, the money always came from my own pocket. I am not a rich man and I owe it to myself to put what money I can afford to into funding the projects that fill me with passion and joy. Setting aside $10,000 in hopes that one day people might claim it, when I could be spending that money on supporting personal projects right now!, no longer makes sense.
And so I am, with a heavy heart, withdrawing my funding, and buying myself an upright bass so I can make more music.
The Cowboy Collective continues, as always, to welcome contributions of all kinds. Send us cowboy art, poetry, music, you name it! Heck, you can make a music video to one of the songs on Songs of the Cowboy (Vol. 02) , you just won’t get paid for it.
Someday when I am rich and famous the $1000 bounty will be reinstated, but until then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Happy trails!