Generating Interest in LilyPond through Kickstarter

[Paul Tannous]

Lilyponders,

I am considering starting a Kickstarter project to engrave a major choral 
work in LilyPond that is in the public domain. The idea is to raise funds 
to pay for the LilyPond engraving, proofreading, contributor premiums, etc.

The LilyPond source would then be put into the public domain. Rather than 
make PDFs available, the LilyPond source could be put on a web site with 
the URL for LilyPond. Anyone wanting a printed copy, could download and 
install LilyPond if they didn't have it already. The idea would be to 
generate interest in LilyPond.

Premiums for contributors could be PDFs of some of the parts of the 
engraved choral work or even the whole score for large contributors. From 
what I've seen of Kickstarter, typically the smallest premium that is 
attractive enough to generate contributions is a T-Shirt. So, this could be 
one of our premiums. If you have ideas for other premiums, they would be 
appreciated.

If this project is successful, other projects for different works could be 
started. A successful project might spawn imitators making even more 
LilyPond source works available.

I have talked to several choir directors about what to use for a first 
project. Handel's 'Messiah' was suggested by all of them. I am aware of 
Nicolas Sceaux's fine work in engraving 'Messiah', but the choir directors 
who spoke with me prefer to use a different version for their performances.

All comments regarding this project will be appreciated.

Thank you,
Paul Tannous