ASU senior Melanie Rogoff turned her passion for music into a charitable venture with the "Euromerica and Friends, Volume 1" compilation benefiting the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.On Dec. 15, Melanie Rogoff, a senior ASU business management student, released the "Euromerica and Friends, Volume 1" compilation CD. Proceeds from the album go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, a cause close to Rogoff's heart.
"(My grandmother) passed away when I was in high school of Parkinson's disease," Rogoff said. "Growing up, I saw her suffering through it and she was just so brave and so positive. ... I saw that and I thought 'Why do people need to suffer through this?'"
As Rogoff began speaking to artists about contributing to the project, she found that many of them had similar personal relationships to the disease.
As a result of this, the album is dedicated to Irene Weiner, Rogoff's grandmother; Trine Eckhoff, the mother of one of the managers who contributed to the project; and Jan Christopherson, a relative of another artist featured on the compilation.
Rogoff found many of her connections for the compilation through her specialty show on ASU's student radio station, The Blaze. For three years she hosted Euromerica Radio, which focuses on dance pop from Europe and the U.S. and explains the transatlantic nature of the compilation's collection of artists.
She chose to release the album through Bandcamp due to the site's history of catering to more independent musicians and has been donating the proceeds through the support of Team Fox, the facilitator of many of the fundraising ventures of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. The CD is on sale for $10.
She teamed up with a number of artists from the Phoenix area as well as artists from all over Europe and the rest of the U.S.
One of these artists, 76th Street, is a duo of Phoenix singer-songwriters who have appeared twice on Rogoff's radio show. The duo of business communication sophomore Spencer Bryant and communication and film sophomore Haley Gold was immediately excited about the project when Rogoff approached them about it.
"Melanie brought (the project) up to us the second time we were interviewed on her show, and we were immediately very interested," Bryant said. "We've done performances for Parkinson's before, and we were very touched by the story of (Melanie's) grandmother."
To release the album, Rogoff partnered with Nightcap Records, a U.K.-based house music label. She also partnered with 80/20 Records, an Arizona label, and received a media sponsorship from HouseMania Norge.
Rogoff was interested in including music from some of the artists Nightcap manages on the compilation and reached out to the label on Twitter about teaming up. Here she was connected with James Badge, the owner and founder of the label.
@euromericaradio we'd love to. Please email james@nightcaprecords.co.uk
— Nightcap (@NightcapRecords) September 28, 2015
"It's for a fantastic cause, supporting a very worthy and very deserving charity," Badge wrote in an email. "If we could help create more awareness through music, and in the process raise some money to push research in Parkinson's disease then the project has been a success."
Although it took a tremendous amount of time and hard work, it all paid off because Rogoff is truly passionate about the project.
"I really want to do this for the rest of my life," she said. "I want to still have my radio show, but I also want to be putting out these compilation CDs and showing the world upcoming and underground dance music."
As of Jan. 10, the "Euromerica and Friends" compilation has raised about $441. It will be available for purchase on Bandcamp through June 15. Rogoff plans to continue releasing compilations and hopes to diversify the project by donating the proceeds from a future volume to a yet-to-be-chosen Alzheimer's research charity.
Correction: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story incorrectly identified the relationship between Trine Eckoff and Rogoff. It also failed to include 80/20 records and HouseMania Norge as part of the album release. This story has been updated with the correct information.
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Reach the reporter at ezentner@asu.edu or follow @emilymzentner on Twitter.
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