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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
Kickstarter got picked up by the New York Times! If you’re unfamiliar with Kickstarter, it’s a “funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers…” where the average Joe can make pledges to artists who need a little help getting started. The Kickstarter website explains that “money is collected only if a project reaches or exceeds its funding goal before time expires. If a project’s funding goal is $5,000 and only $4,999 is pledged when time expires, no money is collected. Zip, zero. Also, no rewards will be delivered. No funding, no rewards. Everyone walks away as if nothing happened.” Why did they decide to run the system like this? They provide three reasons: Read more…