Is crowd-funding the future of music?
Former Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer just set a record for a music-related crowdfunding campaign– she asked for 100k and ended up with over a million dollars! Almost 22k fans contributed to a Kickstarter campaign raising funds for recording, promotion, tour support, and an accompanying art book.
While this success is certainly good news for independent musicians, it doesn’t mean you can simply hop on the fan-funding train and ride it to glory. As Palmer herself has said, “You have to have fans before you can ask them to help you.” And she (with the occasional assist from labels) has spent years building up a devoted and engaged fanbase.
A list of fan-funding platforms for creative projects
1. RocketHub– a launchpad for independent artists and entrepreneurs to leverage the financial power of their community.
2. Kickstarter– a funding platform for creative projects — everything from traditional forms of art (like theater and music) to contemporary forms (like design and games)
3. PledgeMusic– helps artists and bands design a specifically tailored fundraising campaign to raise money for their next release.
4. Indiegogo– a crowdfunding platform where people who want to raise money can create fundraising campaigns to tell their story and get the word out.
5. Sponsume (in the UK)- the first crowdfunding platform dedicated to creativity and innovation launched in the UK and Europe!
6. SellaBand (in Germany and UK)- As one of the first fan-funding platforms, SellaBand unites artists and fans in an independent movement that aims to level the playing field in the global music industry.
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What do you think? Is fan-funding a passing fad, only effective for the already-famous? Or is it the future of music funding, harkening back to a distant past when the arts were paid for by patrons?
Let us know in the comments section below.
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