So the conventional music business is falling apart. Get out a new road. Bumped into Rupert from PledgeMusic. Check this out.
Here’s the mission statement from the founder:
“So Indie It Hurts”
The idea for PledgeMusic was born at my mother’s flat, on an air mattress sometime in the middle of 2008. I had been on the road with my band Marwood on and off for around 9 years and was getting tired of playing great shows, selling a good amount of CDs and still having no money. In fact I was about to head off to Amsterdam to play some shows and had no idea of where I was going to stay and how I was going to eat once I got there.
In my head, I saw what you are looking at today (with a few changes) as a way to determine my own musical career and also a way to help my fellow struggling musicians. I looked for it online and it wasn’t there and so decided to build it.
I saw incredible talent that would sign to a label only to get dropped and then I also saw people who sell out shows and yet still be broke. There had to be another way. In the midst of all this I noticed sales of the larger acts dropping off sharply, alongside fans losing interest and everybody blaming everybody else for why the music business was doing so badly.
I approached my best mate Rupert with the idea as he knew how to build websites and he basically said “I want in.” I then called another old mate Jayce, who was also the only other person I knew who had been to business school; he loved the idea and said that he wanted in too. Then on my trip to Amsterdam and after a few cocktails I met Jann, who kindly bought the rest of the drinks as a business expense and announced that he wanted “in on the plan” and that he was a lawyer.
So that’s basically how it all came together. I wanted there to be a way that people like myself who just want to make music could do so without accumulating huge amounts of debt.
We have devised PledgeMusic to be transparent and open. We have designed PledgeMusic to be beneficial to all involved. Musicians will get the funding and promotional support that they need, the fan will get the music that they want at the price that they want to pay. In effect we have sought to create a system in which nobody loses.
OK that’s it from me!
Loving your work.
Benj Rogers
Check out how the system works here: www.pledgemusic.com
How It Works
- Involve Your Fans
- Keep Your Rights
- Fund Your Music
- Raise Money For Charity
PledgeMusic provides fans and artists the opportunity to work together to make new records and raise money for charity. By combining new social networking technology, old school music biz know how and an irresistible menu of exclusive incentives, fans can visit the site to hear great new music, enjoy and share unique experiences with the artists they love and actively participate in the release process.
See: Behind the music: The future of fan funding
Other fan-funding models: SliceThePieSellabandBandstocks
See also Kickstarter: A New Way to Fund and Follow Creativity
Particularly watch the wonderful video about the Garden of Eden created by Adam Purple in New York City. Inspiring.
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