Musical environmentalists play for variety and a green earth

Dave Hahn, a senior, realized he wanted to help save the world while studying marine biology in Fiji.\n"We studied the destruction of the coral reefs," Hahn says, his blue eyes earnest in the noonday sun. "When the water is too warm a reef will kill itself, so there are acres and acres of dead coral, and I had a lot of time to think. You can't look at that sort of destruction and forget about it. You feel a sense of responsibility."\nBut Hahn is also enamored by music. In an effort to combine his deep respect for the environment and music, Hahn invented Preservation Records last fall. The company will begin with Project Bloomington, a compilation album of local musicians, in which the proceeds will go toward a local environmental agency.\n"I couldn't help thinking, 'what the hell am I going to do with my life?'" Hahn admits. "And I began to think about starting a company based on music and charity and environmental protection. It brings together all my loves: travel, preserving local music and the local environment."\nHahn says Preservation Records was founded on the idea to make a faithful capsule to represent a town's local music scene, as it's difficult to get your music heard when first starting out. In addition to pooling from local musicians, Hahn also wants to work with local environmental protection agencies.\n"There's really only one rule: the fundraising must benefit the immediate environment with the help of local music," Hahn says. "The idea is to make so many small impacts that eventually they'll add up to one big one." \nIn order to make this idea a reality, Hahn, a German major, had to make many small decisions of his own in regards to the business aspect of launching a company. \n"This has taken months of preparation," Hahn says. "I've had help from a lot of people, and I'm so thankful -- I didn't know anything about employee IDs, business law, contracts, tax sheltering. You just have to ask the right people the right questions. I'm no genius, anybody can do it."\nHahn has brought aboard senior Sarah Purcell as the chief publicist. While Hahn works out the logistics, Purcell has spent the past few months talking to everyone she can. The more submissions they receive, the more polished their final product will be.\n"I work with the lawyer, the accountants and the environmental groups, but I'm only one and I can't do everything," Hahn says. "Sarah's ambitious and persistent and I needed someone like that."\nPurcell has experience with artist promotion. Last year she interned for California's Vanguard Records as part of their promotional street team, which required her to promote Vanguard musicians if they were playing a show in the southern Indiana area. \n"I already had a hand in on how things worked, which has made this easier because I already had connections made," says Purcell, who hopes to make artistic representation and promotion a career.\nHer prior connections have been helpful, but Purcell says she nonetheless spends about 25 hours a week hanging fliers or talking to local radio stations and musicians.\n"To my grave I will believe that the goal of musicians is to get their music heard," Purcell says. "With Project Bloomington they can do that without so much work, and it helps the local environment -- you can't beat that."\nAs of press time, Purcell says they have enough submissions for a full compilation, though she hopes to receive even more to ensure a really fair representation of Bloomington's music scene.\n"It's Bloomington," Purcell exclaims, laughing. "This is an extremely diverse town, so it's only fair to be representing that diversity. There are so many bands people have never heard of, who are wonderful and great and represent a different side of Bloomington. We can get the ball rolling for them."\nCameron Mizell, a senior jazz history major, says he received a mass email last month from Hahn encouraging music students to submit their work to Preservation Records. Mizell is a jazz guitarist and has been performing around Bloomington with jazz singer Matthew Gailey, a grad student. Mizell says he's happy his participation will lead toward bettering the environment, but he mainly chose to enter a submission for the resulting exposure.\n"There would be no point in making music if it was just for my own good," says Mizell of his involvement with Project Bloomington. "I didn't think I'd make music to save the planet, but I figure everyone's got their own talents. Dave really has his act together, and is really working toward that, and needed a hand from other people, so I did that."\nHahn says so far they have received some refreshingly different submissions.\n"In Bloomington a lot of genres of music have been overlooked -- acoustic bluegrass, spoken word…where are they going to play?" Hahn says. "They have no venues, and a lot are excited because they can get their music heard and it's for a good cause."\nMizell says although it's a risk, he's looking forward to his music submission sharing a CD with other artists, particularly because the final product will benefit others.\n"It's not going to make me any money," Mizell explains. "It's not making anybody money except that which goes to a good cause, so I'm cool with that."\nPurcell and Hahn agree that the response from the local music community has been nothing but positive and supportive, though finding an environmental group to collaborate with has been more of a challenge than originally expected.\n"Environmental groups are really positive, but unlike the musicians, they want to know about logistics," Hahn says. "We want to do nothing but help, we don't want to be a hindrance. They have enough responsibility and enough to worry about. I will do it for them because I care. People don't buy it though. They must look at me with a sideways glance like, what's in it for you?"\nHahn and Purcell hope to make the finished product available by mid-March. After that, Hahn says he wants Bloomington to be only the beginning. The ultimate goal, he says, is that in about 10 to 15 years from now, Preservation Records will be more than just a record label with two employees. Hahn envisions bringing his company to many different cities in America, and then even foreign nations.\n"Once we start in big countries, we'll focus on the problems in their own environment," Hahn says optimistically. "For instance, Fiji is a developing country so they can't afford to fix their own problems."\nUpon going international, Hahn says he'd like to expand the goal of Preservation Records to serve as an educational resource for children.\n"As the world gets smaller, we have to start learning more about other countries," Hahn says. "The biggest resource is not just our generation but the ones after us. I'd like to have traveling educators, to get kids interested in music, then the environment because of their interest in music, and then they'll realize problems but also be taught a positive message 'I can make a difference.'"\nHahn ultimately wants to make his living doing something he loves, something he feels passionately about, and he says Preservation Records will help him to achieve this goal.\n"Music is just this universal force," Hahn says. "Everyone loves it, and that's our most powerful tool."\nSubmissions for Project Bloomington are due Feb. 14. Interested local musicians should contact Dave Hahn (djhahn@indiana.edu) or Sarah Purcell (sacpurce@indiana.edu). For more information check http://www.preservationrecords.com.