A new release strategy for a new music economy
Indie artist Megan Slankard is finding success in the new music economy through the fan-support platform of Patreon – reducing risk and rewarding trust among her steadily growing fan base. Read More.
fund music
Crowdfunding 2.0: from project funding to career planning
Patreon offers artists with a following a path to a sustainable, recurring income through its platform, ushering in the era of crowdfunding 2.0. Read more.
Crowdfunding for Musicians: #DMchat Recap
For the February edition of our Disc Makers Twitter chat (#DMchat), we asked composer, singer-songwriter, and music business/branding consultant Cheryl B. Engelhardt for some crowdfunding tips for musicians. This post contains a selection of questions and answers from our discussion. Read more.
Crowdfunding success is a process, not a fluke
My methodical and logical ways of working at my music career don’t account for “fluke.” I quantify everything. I even have an 8-step process for writing emails. Inspiration, luck, coincidence, and fate, are all concepts I dismiss, claiming that really we have the power to create exactly what we want, with the help of a few key tools. Read more.
Crowdfunding for musicians: tips, tactics, and trends
We’ve been covering the topics and trends of crowdfunding for musicians for years. Here’s a collection of posts that tackle topics spanning settling on a platform, setting goals and timelines, pricing rewards, and a whole lot more. Check out these posts, and keep coming back, we’ll keep adding new content. Read more.
Planning the rewards for your music crowdfunding project
Whether you are trying to cover the cost of producing your next album or get a tour off the ground, crowdfunding gets your fans involved while generating the necessary dollars. Today we want to dive into setting a mix of rewards to encourage backers to pledge the most amount of money to your project. Read more.
Creative strategies to raise money for your indie album release
You’ve got your songs, arrangements, musicians, and studio all set and ready to go; plans for CDs and publicity aren’t far behind. The question? How to pay for it all. Here are case studies, tips, and strategies from musicians on gathering the funds to make their own dreams of an indie album release a reality. Read more.
Home grown crowdfunding tips
There are numerous ways to approach crowdfunding – including home-grown methods that don’t rely exclusively on the websites that facilitate the process. Singer/songwriter Linda Chorney has been creatively financing and her own album projects for decades. I interviewed her to get some of her personal crowdfunding tips on the matter. Read more.
How to crowdfund your next project: 11 steps to success
Crowdfunding doesn’t just raise money, it engages your fans beyond simply asking for donations or getting them to buy your merchandise; a successful campaign makes them feel like active participants, captures their enthusiasm, and helps you spread the word. The key is organizing your efforts to maximize fundraising. Read more.
Four ways you can fund your next music project
You’re a musician – of course you want to record your music, make CDs, have an album release party, create new merchandise, and go on tour. Trouble is, you don’t have the cash on hand to make any of these things a reality. How can you raise the money to help fund your next music project? Read more.
Fan funding takes the risk out of a risky business
Fan funding through direct-to-fan platforms puts you in the driver’s seat and enables you to make proactive decisions at every turn. No longer do you have to wait until after your album releases to see how fans will respond to it, who’s going to buy it and – gulp – if you will in fact be able to tackle the surmounting debt you’ve accrued in the process of recording, producing, mixing, mastering, marketing, and distributing. Read more.
Fan Funding: Should You Ask Your Fans for Money?
In our experience working with artists from Ben Folds to the Beach Boys, we’ve found that fans want to be a part of a journey — the entire journey. If I love your music, I don’t just want to pre-order your new record. I also want to get a signed copy of the record and possibly a painting you made just for me. I may also want to meet you for dinner or see my name in the album credits. Read more.
Fan Funding your music – 9 steps to find patrons completely on your own
In nine months, Cheryl Engelhardt raised over $25,000 in fan donations to fund the production of her record One Up. It’s possible, but no one will give you a dime if your campaign is “I really really want to make a record – please give me money!” You need to create an opportunity for your fans that will inspire them to participate. Read more.
Finding money for your project – a look at Kickstarter and other fan-funding sites
For decades, record labels have served as “banks” for musicians, loaning artists money up-front to write, record, and release their music. In the utopian scenario, this up-front money (an advance), would be paid back from the artist’s royalty earnings from album sales (recoupment), and everyone would walk away happy. Read more…