The Pluses of Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is starting to become a more and more successful way for musicians to fund their projects. Basically, a band announces they want to record new material, they set up a website, and their supporters give money online in return for the finished product when it’s fully recorded. It’s a you help me, I help you type deal that all revolves around support. If a band is popular and has dedicated fans, those fans will have no problem investing a bit of money up front in order to get a hold of some brand new material.
Crowdfunding can also be helpful in attaining funds to keep a venue up and running or to keep a festival happening. Money can come from around the world over the Internet, so there’s really no limit on region. If people love and care about what’s being offered or supported, then the funded project will have no problem attaining a set goal. It allows fans to show their support, therefore feeling as though they are truly apart of project. This also allows musicians to stay on an independent route without the interference of a record company, therefore allowing them to create a record the way that they want to.
Welsh rock band The Blackout had some issues with their record label so they decided to self-release their latest EP Wolves through the crowdfunding website Kickstarter. Being that they already had a large fan base, they offered people different ‘reward’ levels for different amounts of money given. These levels included signed copies of the EP, t-shirts, and other memorabilia. Their crowdfunding success more effective with these special gifts offered.
Personally, I would be definitely more than willing to throw a few more bucks at a band if I get the record and plus any other crazy thing the artist is willing to offer in order to fund their project.
