New Music Biz 101: Kickstarter

posted in: Features

Finding the money to record an album without a label is a difficult feat for any band. We’ve certainly mentioned the concept of fan funding in the past. Sites like Kickstarter continue to increase in popularity thanks to Internet buzz from independent artists. For those who don’t know, Kickstarter is an online platform that allows music lovers and fans to donate money towards a cause such as recording or touring. The platform isn’t just for musicians, but that’s what we’ll focus on today. More and more success stories are surfacing, and that provides the company with more credibility.

Let’s take a look at a band that’s used the program successfully and learn more about their project. Parachute Musical” one of the many great bands on OurStage”consists of four passionate, fun loving guys who perform keyboard-driven pop music. They’ve toured coast to coast for a few years now and have slowly built a strong and enthusiastic following. Now,
the group released few singles released before they began their Kickstarter campaign, but they were ready to bring their music to their starving fans in full force with an album. With the strong fan base, and Kickstarter’s easy to use platform, the band was wildly successful. They set a goal of $10,000, put together a video explaining the project and the benefits of donating towards the cause, set up some tiered donations and went to work promoting it. Their different tiers ranged from $10 to receive a digital download of the record two weeks before the release all the way to $2,500 or more in which you become an honorary member of the band”gaining free admissions to any show, as well as being flown to spend a day with them in the studio. They actually had one person donate at this tier, which is very impressive.

The band hit the ball out of the park and ended up exceeding their goal”ultimately achieving $16,705 from over 200 backers. We think part of their success was due to their nationwide active fan base, the sincerity of their promotional video about the fundraiser and their well-thought out donation tiers.
To learn more about their story, check out their video here. Have you tried  Kickstart for a  project? Let us know about your experience in the comments.