Cashmere Thoughts × Yussef Dayes
One day a week we run the whole label through you. You make the handful of calls only you can make — the team executes the rest. This is that day.
First principles
If we only get five answers from Yussef today, make it these. Each one is a gate the whole team is currently waiting behind. Everything downstream in this deck sequences off them.
Creative direction for Barka + which packaging route (Bronze / Silver / Gold).
Choir publishing (25%, non-recoupable) + band publishing splits — confirm the numbers.
Pay BMG the ~£1k to clear, or hold for £0 / MFN — the only non-original in the film.
Ethiopia episode drop + Cape Town vinyl ship window + Kenya shoot date.
Orchard route / DSP timing + reopen D2C (pre-order now vs wait for automation).
The one input only Yussef holds. Ten minutes to surface anything the team can't see, so nothing collides with a release or a shoot.
Where it standsThe one input only Yussef holds. Type straight into the boxes as he says them — it saves automatically.
The live release and the bulk of today. Film is out and performing; the remaining calls are vinyl, splits, clearance and switching the store back on.
Where it standsAnimated / zoetrope-style vinyl in play (Animated Record Company / Beluga). Design call set for 1pm today with Olivia, Jamie & Barka. Park/Snalo border + cover artwork sign-off triggers the ~8-week pressing countdown.
Where it standsBri has priced three routes; Jamie has mocked them up with Cashmere branding. Feeds the pricing calculator (unit cost → postage → margin → customer price).
Where it standsTwo choirs (Camden/UK — mgr Luke; South African choir now split into factions, manager not yet identified). Only 3 compositions involve the choirs. Will's hard line: choir keeps 25% publishing, NON-recoupable against your recording costs — you recoup only from master / merch / streaming. Band publishing splits for the Cape Town release still not confirmed.
Where it standsOnly non-original composition in the film. Bri has sent the YouTube URL for whitelisting; BMG proposed a fee (~£1k), Bri is pushing for £0 / MFN. BMG has gone quiet — currently the single hardest blocker on monetising the flagship release.
Where it stands20M+ catalogue views generating ~£0 to CT — income is flowing through Warner/Brownswood and recouping against your artist account. Whitelisting "Yousef Originals" + a one-time-fee structure is the proposed fix.
Where it standsStore is offline (listings pulled to avoid unfulfillable orders). Automation build with Daniel (Silver package, £6,750; Shopify = source of truth, Bandcamp in scope, Royal Mail label API in). Fulfilment process + outstanding CD orders still to wrap. 500 repress units + proven demand sitting behind this.
Where it standsPress release drafted (Google Doc). On approval, seed to press + push the Cape Town social plan.
Where it standsDoes the publishing agreement cover DSP + physical, or only YouTube/film? Needed before we sell vinyl or push to streaming. Bri to open the thread with Will.
Next release, same engine as Cape Town (film → vinyl → digital). In post-production; the calls are edit status, drop date and whether we run a brand activation.
Where it standsFilm in post; targeted ~end Q3, roughly 4 weeks behind Cape Town. Distribution may combine with Cape Town under the Orchard deal.
The brand-partnership play — a Land Rover convoy activation. Deck in progress; the call is the shoot date and go/no-go on the model.
Where it standsOlivia building the Land Rover pitch deck (AI-assisted). Convoy activation concept. This is the template for funding films via brand partners rather than self-funding.
A live show on the horizon. This is the thinnest section in the audit — I need you to set the frame.
Sweating the back-catalogue — repress the proven records and build a Q4 collector moment.
Where it standsBoth editions to be repressed in new colourways — no dates confirmed.
Where it standsConcept: a Christmas collectors' edition vinyl bundle set, released in November. Film an advert for it; end the advert with an audience prompt — "what country should we pop up to next?" — feeding the next film.
Organic-only growth (no paid, per your rule). The machine: trial reels, culture-page tagging, band asset packs — run by Jamie's team on the Cashmere channels.
Where it standsCashmere IG handed to Jamie's team to run. Trial reels (up to 8) live for zero-risk testing. AI-mapped culture pages (250k–400k followers) for "blind tagging" in stories. SA film under-indexed locally (<5%) — pivot underway.
The money view — position, recurring cost base, and invoices. Cape Town budget ~£50–70k sets the recoup target; the running costs below are what CT carries every month regardless of releases.
Where it standsCape Town tracking to a ~£50–70k envelope. Live spend decisions: £6,750 automation build, ~£1k BMG, packaging tier cost, ~£5k finance-automation build.
Where it standsThe running costs CT carries need to be on the table today, mapped against income so we know the real monthly position and the recoup target. These sit alongside project spend, not inside it.
Where it standsBri not yet paid; Olivia's invoice is in. Jamie committed to processing both by tomorrow.
The machine underneath. Mostly Jamie/team lane — listed so nothing goes dark. Only the flagged items need Yussef today.
Everything captured today — decisions, notes and the calendar. Copy it into the task tracker at the end, or download a backup.
🔒 Where this lives: saved in this browser only. It survives refreshes, but a different device, a browser-clear, or "Reset week" won't have it. To keep it for good: Copy all into Notion, or Download backup.