Occupy Wall Street’s tents and banners are long gone from Zuccotti Park a year after an encampment in downtown Manhattan launched a nation-wide series of protests about economic inequality and a host of American social issues.
For Great Neck resident Jason Samel, the movement’s ups and downs have mirrored those faced by his contribution to the cause: a protest music album which drew support from big-name artists yet is struggling financially.
Samel, 35, who owns a Jericho insurance brokerage, had never produced an album when he visited Occupy Wall Street’s camp on the second day of protests in September last year.
His experience that day in Zuccotti Park led him to create “Occupy This Album,” a compilation record featuring musicians ranging from country music icon Willie Nelson to hip hop legend Immortal Technique and local performers he met through Occupy Wall Street.
“I was walking around the park and heard all these other amazing musicians,” said Samel. “I started to think maybe that chick over there, and that guy over there, and that group over there and maybe the drum circle too – heck, we can make an album with all these people. Lets bring them into a studio.”
The project, which was to donate its profits to Occupy camps across the country, drew major media attention from outlets including CNN, the Associated Press and liberal magazine Mother Jones.
But with the withdrawal of the camp from Zuccotti Park, media attention on both the album and Occupy itself dropped precipitously and the album has yet to recoup the $50,000 in production, marketing and distribution costs.
Samel said the album has sold about 5,500 copies, including several hundred at the movement’s birthday celebration in Manhattan this weekend – 4,000 sales short of the project’s break-even point. The album’s financial struggles and the movement’s decline from the national spotlight were depressing and frustrating for Samel.
But he said that the album was always about more than just the money.
“It will become a statement of a time that was a beautiful thing, hopefully, for America,” he said.
The idea for the album was born when Samel met Matt Pless, a folk musician and fellow protester who gave Samel a hand-made business card written in magic marker. Samel, who is a musician but had never played professionally, was inspired by Pless and other performers at Zuccotti to gain popular exposure for both Occupy’s artists and the movement itself.
Samel loved Pless’ songwriting but doubted that his do-it-yourself aesthetic could draw a mainstream audience.
“Who the heck is going to buy an album from a guy who’s got his name written in magic marker on a piece of cardboard?” said Samel in an interview.
Samel said he decided the solution was to pair the songs of Zuccotti’s activist musicians with those of famous artists who could attract a wide variety of listeners.
Samel faced the challenge of a music industry outsider convincing popular musicians to contribute their talents to the project. He then turned to social networking service Twitter, getting his first star through persistent Twitter messaging to Pete Seeger’s grandson, folk musician Tao Seeger.
“I twitter stalked him. I wouldn’t stop tweeting to him until he answered me,” Samel said. “It was either going to be shut up, leave me alone, I don’t want to hear from you again, or you’re going to help me. One of the two was going to happen.”
Fortunately for Samel, Seeger chose the latter. That connection led Samel to a list of 1960s counter-culture royalty, including the Guthrie family and David Amram. It was not long until the project generated its own momentum and the phone calls started coming in. Once the project began attracting media attention, the extent of the response took Samel by surprise.
”I [had] Third Eye Blind calling me saying ‘hey, do we still have time to be on the album, can we still make it’ and I [was] like, really? It’s you? No way!” he said.
Samel had also worked with liberal documentarian Michael Moore on initial efforts to create an Occupy Web site. While that project fizzled, it did lead to one of Samel’s more memorable experiences producing the album: seeing Moore, not a noted vocal stylist, sing Bob Dylan backed by an eclectic super group that included David Amram and the bassist from experimental rock group Ween.
Though Samel was heavily involved with Occupy, participating in working groups dedicated to music, internet promotion and protest organizing, he did not sleep at the camp, returning to Great Neck each night to be with his family. The project was a struggle for him, with long hours of work that kept him apart from his wife, Dr. Sheila Delijani-Samel, and his infant son.
“I was in the city all the time while my wife was sitting at home taking care of the baby,” he said “It was a huge strain. I didn’t get to see my wife, I missed watching my kid grow up for nine months.”
Samel said that he was driven to complete the album out of concern for what he called “the soul of the country.”
For him, corporate political spending and the environmental effects of natural gas fracking were pressing issues that motivated his response.
Samel also had to contend with the politics of the album’s production.
The album, which is not officially endorsed by Occupy Wall Street, is sold through Razor and Tie, a New York-based record label that handles its distribution through Sony Music. The use of a major label was opposed by occupiers and attracted heavy criticism; Samel said that the most Occupiers supported the project once it became apparent that there were no viable options for independent distribution.
The album’s production culminated in a record-release party at City Winery, which Samel said was attended by 400 to 500 people, including a laundry list of Occupy Wall Street’s top organizers.
The project’s initial progress, however, has not translated into financial success.
Occupy This Album! is on sale from 99 cents on Music for Occupy’s Web site through Oct. 17, in celebration of Occupy Wall Street’s anniversary.
