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Musician launches campaign to pay off Steve Albini’s mortgage

By | Published on Tuesday 5 October 2010

Former Silkworm guitarist Tim Midgett has launched a campaign to raise $230,000 in order to pay off the mortgage on Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio, meaning the legendary musician and sound engineer can finally own outright the building in which the studio has been based since 1997.

Midgett explained: “So many great records made at this studio, for so little money … Let’s see how close we can get to paying off the remaining balance of the studio’s mortgage. I know this campaign will be an embarrassment to owner Steve Albini, but it will be an embarrassment to the rest of us if it fails. Sort of. I don’t know, I just want to see if it will work. 2000 people, $115 each, and it’s done”.

But a rep for the studio has stressed that, while appreciative of Midgett’s efforts, the fundraising campaign has not been set up by Albini’s team themselves, nor is Midgett reacting any acute financial problems at the studio complex. Technician Greg Norman wrote on the campaign’s web page: “I want to make this clear to anyone thinking of pledging money to this campaign. We are doing fine financially. There is no threat of us missing payments, or any other money calamity”.

He continued: “We would feel awful if someone pledged money for charitable reasons. Tim started this, it appears as a collective gift, and that is an awfully generous gesture. None of us at Electrical Audio knew about this until the campaign launched, and have nothing to do with this. I just want to make sure everyone’s clear on what they are pledging to”.

Since launching less than a week ago, the campaign has already raised just under $40,000 towards its total: www.thepoint.com/campaigns/campaign-0-472



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