Crowdfunding For Musicians

Launch & Release Kickstarter Profiles: 12/3 - 12/8

Today we introduce a new feature at Crowdfunding For Musicians, a weekly roundup of the Kickstarter campaign analysis posts from Launch & Release.

12/08 Your Music Kickstarter Recording Budget
Know your album budget inside and out before trying to choose your Kickstarter Goal Amount. Assess your minimum viable project (the smallest version of your project that you can live with) and then set Flex Goals with two or more tiers of success.

12/07 This Project Shows How NOT To Do a Flex Goal

When using a flex goal approach to increase your odds of success, be 100% sure to clearly communicate the flex goals you are using.

12/06 Drew Kennedy Connects Fans to His Art
Connect your fans to the artistic process making it a shared mission to raise your odds of success. Pay careful attention to communicating this connection in an explicit manner through your spoken and written words.

  12/05 Can You Get Strangers to Back Your Band’s Kickstarter?
It’s possible to get pledges from strangers, but you need to be savvy and methodical for it to pay off. Know that the overwhelming majority of your pledges will be from people you’re already connected to.

  12/04 How You Can Fund a Kickstarter Without a Mailing List
First, increase your marketing efficacy by carefully cultivating a trusting relationship with your fans. It doesn’t matter if you use email, Facebook, or smoke signals, this advice holds.

 12/03 Death of Paris-A Purpose Worth Backing
Carl says to prepare beforehand, treat it like a full time job, and reach out for tangible interaction. He also uses the flex goal strategy.

 

I also wrote about Launch & Release in a post for Hypebot:

100 Music Kickstarter Campaigns & Other Resources
For Music Crowdfunding Success

Kickstarter Joins PledgeMusic, IndieGoGo & RocketHub in Offering Music Crowdfunding in the UK

The iconic crowdfunding platform Kickstarter is now accepting projects from the UK. Kickstarter announced the move three weeks ago and let folks start setting up campaigns at that point.

Today those campaigns began going live and a game was first up.

According to today's announcement UK projects will be mixed in with US projects which establishes an approach that will likely continue when they start adding other countries. Given that the location-related information on the site is city-based and you have to search for the majority of cities by inputting the name this move may be a long-term negative on discoverability. Then again, you can't depend on the platform for promotion so it might not really matter.

Note that "backers from anywhere in the world can pledge to any project on Kickstarter." In addition, co-founder Yancey Strickler says they will be expanding to other nations soon.

For a few more details on Kickstarter in the UK please see the announcement.

Music Crowdfunding Competitors in the UK

PledgeMusic is probably the strongest contender in the music crowdfunding space for fanfunded album campaigns. In terms of ruling a niche, they are kings in that domain.

Kickstarter's two biggest overall competitors are IndieGoGo and RocketHub, both of which are available globally as is PledgeMusic (double checking that now).

Kickstarter's brand may well allow it to trump both IndieGoGo and RocketHub. But PledgeMusic has a powerful music-specific brand so Kickstarter should represent a chance to raise awareness of crowdfunding across the board.

However, PledgeMusic has an adamant stance that they are not a crowdfunding site. I consider it a counterproductive stance in that they don't offer clear alternative terminology in a form that doesn't sound like crowdfunding. But given that everybody outside of PledgeMusic will categorize them as a crowdfunding site, they should still benefit from raised awareness of crowdfunding.

Related Crowdfunding For Musicians Coverage:
Kickstarter Announces UK Launch Plans Via Twitter

Crowdfunding For Musicians is authored by Clyde Smith (@crowdfundingm).

Songkick Lets Fans Build Andrew Bird's South American Tour For Him [Repost from Techdirt]

Andrew Bird's South American Campaign (Via Songkick Detour)

[Repost of Techdirt article written by Mike Masnick, 10/23/12]

Over the last few weeks, we've been talking about Songkick's new "Detour" feature, which artists are using to set up shows in "off the beaten track" places, where they'd be unlikely to tour normally, but via Songkick, they discover there are enough fans to make it worthwhile. Considering how often we hear from musicians that touring is such a crap shoot on whether or not you'll make money, it's great to see more tools spring up to help take away that risk.

There are a few interesting side effects of all of this. First, beyond just taking some of the risk out of touring, it's also helping artists find different fans they can reach via touring. That doesn't mean they drop existing places, but that they can expand their opportunities. But the second, and perhaps more interesting aspect, is the social one -- in which fans have been using Detour to bring in more fans. That's because one of the ways that Detour can be used is to effectively have a competition, in which cities compete to see which one has more fans willing to crowdfund an appearance by an act they love.

The latest to jump into the Detour pool is a pretty big name artist: Andrew Bird was unsure if it would make sense for him to do a South American tour, but is now using Detour to make sure it's financially viable -- and to figure out what cities he should visit on the tour.

"I've been wanting to go to these countries for years because I'm a fan of their rich musical traditions. Songkick Detour seems like a brilliant idea as it gives me a sense of connection to the people before I go there."

There's a competitive element to this. There are twelve cities (in nine countries) competing (the twelve were picked by going through Songkick's data, to see where Bird had lots of fans -- sometimes in surprising places) for six open slots for shows in February of next year. The setup is basically that the first six shows that have fans crowdfund 250 tickets get the open slots for the gigs. It will be interesting to see if fans in the different cities rally to encourage fans to buy in to get the concert.

These efforts remain very experimental, so who knows how well they'll succeed long term, but I love the fact that we're still seeing unique innovations in different aspects of the music business. Obviously, for many artists, touring has become a bigger part of their revenue stream lately -- but it's also one part of the business that many artists complain has extremely high costs and risks. The system has been inefficient for years, allowing the business to bleed musicians. So it's encouraging to see more attempts to improve the efficiency of the concert business -- and doing so in a way that gets more fans connected to bands, and allows acts to find "out of the way" places to play live, while minimizing the risk of doing so.

Related Crowdfunding For Musicians Coverage:
Detour and Bandtastic Enter the Music Concert Crowdfunding Arena

Crowdfunding For Musicians is authored by Clyde Smith (@crowdfundingm).

Crowdsourcing A Live Show Lets Fans Spread The Word About How Awesome You Are [Repost from Techdirt]

Hot Chip Performing at Songkick Detour Show (Via Songkick)

[Repost of Techdirt article written by Mike Masnick, 10/15/12]

We recently wrote about a new feature from Songkick, called Detour, that can be used to crowdsource a concert to guarantee for a performer that it's worth going to a show there. Songkick now has another example, which is even more interesting. This one isn't just about pre-proving a profitable demand level for a show, but about engaging with fans, finding new fans and really getting people engaged. It involved the band Hot Chip, who had an open day in their European tour, and was hoping to use it to play a "smaller" town -- one that many tours for similarly popular bands were bypassing.

Songkick found 3 towns that the band hadn't headlined before -- and then let the three towns compete. What's interesting is how people in one town -- Folkestone -- went above and beyond to make it happen:

What happened next though was incredibly exciting. A bunch of superfans in Folkestone decided that they were going to make it happen. As one fan said, "Most bands don't come to this part of Kent, they tend to stop at London." They got super proactive and started to email all their friends and even petitioned the local radio station and newspaper. It exploded and went completely viral in a matter of hours through fan to fan word of mouth marketing, Hot Chip sold out. Check out the sales curve of pledges for the show, the huge viral spike is when fans started to self-organise.

Songkick has some interesting data points:

Some interesting things we learned:
- 70% of the people who pledged had never seen Hot Chip before. Detour is really creating new fan to artist connections.
- 66% of the attendees found out about the show through their friends (The rest from Songkick and Hot Chip)
- 1 (amazing) fan emailed over 2000 people they knew to try and spread the word.

In other words, such a platform isn't just about fans getting an act to show up somewhere, but also about getting fans to spread the word, to evangelize and to help build the fanbase much bigger. One thing we've definitely noticed about successful crowdsourcing campaigns is that they tend to create a sense of "ownership," which means that supporters have incentive to get their friends to support things too, which is a different form of "viral" marketing. Songkick notes, also, how far fans will go to support acts they like:

I think the thing that really blew me away was the level of self-organisation amongst fans. In a world where half the music industry is still focused on complaining about file sharing, people often forget that fan is short for fanatic. Hot Chip's fans are incredibly passionate about them and figured out a way to self-organise to make this show happen.

Now, there is one caveat that Songkick doesn't mention that could be worth exploring as well. While it is great for those in and around Folkestone, does it upset those in Stoke or in York who are fans, but who didn't "win?" It seems possible, though hopefully they went into this understanding that was a possibility. Either way, we see that doing these kinds of things isn't just about pleasing existing fans, but finding more fans as well.

Related Crowdfunding For Musicians Coverage:
Detour and Bandtastic Enter the Music Concert Crowdfunding Arena

Crowdfunding For Musicians is authored by Clyde Smith (@crowdfundingm).

Songkick Helps Fans Bring Their Favorite Musician To London [Repost from Techdirt]

Tycho - A Walk (Live in London at Songkick Detour Show)

[Repost of Techdirt article written by Mike Masnick, 10/4/12]

When we talk about alternative business models for music, one that always is discussed is live performances. Like it or not, this is a very big (and growing at a rapid rate) part of the market. We've never argued that live performance is the only alternative business model (though some pretend we've said that), but it's hard to deny that it is an area of opportunity for many artists.

Now, many people -- quite rightly -- point out that the aggregate data on touring doesn't tell the whole story. Big acts with massive tours can take in lots and lots of money, while it can be quite difficult for acts that don't have that level of support. We've heard the story plenty of times of bands going on tour in a crappy old van, only to show up in places and play for 5 people who don't care, having spent much more on gas to get to the venue than they make from the door. This absolutely happens. And it sucks for bands. But there's no reason that needs to happen.

We've talked about alternative ways of touring, and even how artists like Jonathan Coulton used tools like Eventful to have fans prove there was enough demand at a location before he'd perform there. We've also talked about how there were a growing number of tools that can make touring/live efforts more effective and less likely to lose money. And one of those tools is Songkick, which already helps alert people to concerts they may be interested in, with evidence that services like that, alone, help drive more people to shows.

But now Songkick is expanding even more, with a new effort called Detour -- which has some similarities with Eventful. Songkick talks about how they were able to "crowdfund" getting musician Tycho from his home in San Francisco to London for the first time to perform, by gathering up a ton of his fans to prove that there was demand.

Tycho's manager had been worried about doing any sort of European tour, because it's expensive to get there, and if the fanbase wasn't there, you're making a huge bet. Enter Songkick Detour:

We chatted to Tycho and his team and it seemed like they’d need to sell a few hundred tickets to make it feasible to come to London, so we created a simple website, Detour to allow Tycho fans to pledge. What happened next was pretty insane! We emailed the fans on Songkick who were tracking Tycho, and over 100 of them pledged money for a ticket. Gideon was pretty thrilled to see how many other people shared his passion for Tycho.

But 100 or so wasn’t enough to get the show confirmed so the Songkickers took it into their own hands & started to contact friends and music fans who were either into Tycho or should be! Within a short while we hit our target and the gig was on! Wow.

Boom. But it didn't end there. As Ian Hogarth notes in the post, because the show was crowdfunded, it also changed the nature of it. Just as we've seen with other crowdfunding efforts, it gives supporters some sort of effective feeling of ownership and thus making the event successful isn't just about going to a cool show, but about really being a part of a success story. And that can take things to another level:

To be honest at that point I didn’t think things could get much cooler. To see fans rise up to help their favourite artist go and tour in a new country was overwhelming. The sense of community and excitement was really special. But then I went to the concert itself and realised the real power of this concept.

Everyone at that show was there because they made the gig happen and the atmosphere reflected that. It was beyond intimate and the connection between the band and the fans that started online carried into the gig itself. One of the fans that came made this lovely video of the show and you can get a feel for how special the atmosphere was. Tycho was so appreciative of the fans that made it happen, and brought over some beautiful signed posters for the event which he gave to some of the first fans who pledged.

No one has ever claimed that there's a magic bullet for success in the music business (or any business). But the status quo does not need to be the way things stay. There are all sorts of opportunities to make live music better, more efficient and more enjoyable for everyone. And it seems like this little effort from Songkick is a nice step in that direction.

Related Crowdfunding For Musicians Coverage:
Detour and Bandtastic Enter the Music Concert Crowdfunding Arena

Crowdfunding For Musicians is authored by Clyde Smith (@crowdfundingm).

Crowdfunding For Musicians Update: I'm Back, Please Send Music Crowdfunding Campaign Announcements

Just a quick update for Crowdfunding For Musicians readers!

I've been traveling a bit. Thought I would be posting some but, as you can see, I fell into radio silence. Apologies for not filling you in.

I've decided to start posting about new music crowdfunding campaigns in progress.  Not sure exactly how that will work but instead of focusing on tips and takeaways, I will simply be highlighting additional campaigns to help spread the word.

To let me know about your campaign in progress or anything else that's happening in the world of music crowdfunding, please contact me at:

clyde(at)crowdfundingformusicians(dot)com

The Limousines Request $30k in Kickstarter Campaign, Receive $75k in Pledges

The Limousines' Campaign Video for Hush

The Limousines recently ran a highly successful Kickstarter campaign to record and release their second album Hush. Requesting $30,000, 1767 backers came through with pledges of $75,808.

Their pitch video, shown above, as well as the text description on Kickstarter makes it clear that they're asking for the basic amount they need but that they'll be able to do much more if they get more. They describe what they would use additional funds for without becoming overly detailed. They then go on to describe why they don't want to sign another record deal and how they want to do things in the future. And they do it while big upping their fans and staying positive.

Their video is entertaining and humorous. It doesn't get bogged down in details or rhetoric while communicating quite a bit.

In addition, their campaign rewards are well thought out from special digital goodies for those who pledge $2 to limited edition tees at $50 (along with a copy of the album) to all sorts of interesting rewards at higher tiers many of which are one of a kind. For example, one of the $500 rewards is titled the "ZOMBIE KILLER PACK" that includes a leather jacket worn in a music video plus other cool prizes.

Every aspect of this campaign is well thought out and definitely an example worth considering when you're thinking through your own campaign.

Eric Victorino seems to handle the talking job for the band and he discussed why they took the crowdfunding route in a recent interview:

"I have just learned as I've gotten older that nobody is ever going to be as passionate about my art and my ideas than I am. That leads to the next logical step, which is to seize control over my art, not to hand it over to someone who doesn't care about it like I do..."

"[We are] people who can only be happy when we're making art – it's the process that gets us off and we're tired of having people fuck with our process. That's what this Kickstarter campaign is all about. I have seen some people comment that it looks desperate or needy when a band does a crowdfunding project for their album – I don't think it's desperate, I think it's honest, I think it's ballsy, I think it's a hell of a lot easier to pick up the phone when these label people call and say, "Okay, I dunno what all that fine print says but I wanna be signed" and just give away control of this huge part of your life..."

"Now, since I've been signed to a few labels in my career, and I know it's not the route I want to take again – should I just say, fuck it, I guess I'll go find a job and just kinda make music as a hobby, since I don't want to be a professional musician? No. I am a professional musician. I can stand up in front of a crowd of 15 thousand people and entertain them for an hour. I'm good at that. It's what I love to do with my hours. The music business is fucked up, but I'm not going to treat my art like a hobby just because I don't want to play by their rules anymore. I'm going to find another way to get exactly what I want to do done." 

"I think there's nothing more natural and obvious in the progression of the business than bands getting closer to their fans and treating them like partners, cutting out the middle man. Bands need two things to stick around; a desire to make music and fans who give them the love and support they need to make it all feel worth it."

"I don't know how many hours I have left on this planet. To me, they're priceless. So I'm gonna find whatever way that works so I can be free to make what I want and to be proud of myself."

Big ups to The Limousines and their fans for a job well done!

Note: Eric Victorino was also interviewed by Matt De Mello. It's a really sad example of a hostile interviewer who seem to neither understand the realities of the music industry or the shift in power brought by crowdfunding. Victorino responds strongly and well but ultimately it's a waste of his time and I hate to see that happen.

I had considered including it in a post I'm working on about criticisms and misconceptions of crowdfunding but glancing over it in consideration for this post just turned my stomach. De Mello is clearly not worth your time or mine.

Crowdfunding For Musicians is authored by Clyde Smith (@crowdfundingm).