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 a world driven by social media, fans want to know what you’re up to, what you did today, and what you were thinking about when you wrote the lyrics to your latest single. In the new industry, this is where much of the value lies. Fans don’t need more ways to buy new music; they need more reasons to. Give them an invitation into the journey and you’d better believe they’ll pay to gain that kind of access. Read more.
Once you understand that your fans want to know your story and the stories surrounding your music, it kind of goes without saying that they want to be invited in. Successful indie artists offer up something even greater than just their new music: they offer a new and personal experience not available anywhere else. Read more.
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.
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.