Kickstarter: The Future Of Music? (Kickstarter, Pledge Music Mindless Self Indulgence Feature)
Monday, 18 March 2013
Written by Heather McDaid
It's quite difficult to keep up with advances in technology these days and at times it can prove difficult for the industries around them to evolve accordingly. Everything is going digital and for music that's proven problematic. With less money being made from digital music, less money is given into producing it. So, what do bands do?
Well, thanks to websites like Kickstarter and Pledge Music, artists are asking their fans to fund them in a mutual give and take project. Fans pay the money, bands make the music - more often than not they throw in special packages beyond the mere album itself.
Take Mindless Self Indulgence (pictured, right), who released their new album 'How I Learned Not To Give A Shit and Love Mindless Self Indulgence' this week exclusively to their Kickstarter pledgers. The band asked for $150,000 from fans, offering rewards from a pledger-only T-shirt, one-off stage backdrops, basses and guitars, as well as your name being in the title of one of their songs (that particular honour went to a Mr. Mark Trezona. And aside from their fanbase eagerly wanting that new record, the wide variety of rewards up for grabs only fuelled the excitement, which probably explains why the band surpassed their goal by around $75,000.
But why are outlets like Kickstarter so good for bands?
Well, for one, it allows a direct give and take with their fanbase. The journey in getting a new album feels far more shared than a label-funded release with no fan influence and input. MSI's project began back in October and, now the album has come to fruition, the fans who have been receiving snippets of updates via email over the months have felt more a part of this record than those before it.
In a business sense, Kickstarter also plays a solid part. It's all or nothing. Artists requesting funds are asked to set a target and end date, keeping pledgers regularly updated on the progress and uploading a video explaining the purpose of their project. It is essential for artists to explain their purpose, or they won't be approved for the process. Furthermore, if the target isn't met by the deadline, no one's credit/debit cards are charged. You either get the project, or you don't. No one has the opportunity to scrape their project with a fraction of the funds.
And the actual charging of the cards is another vital plus for fans who pledge money to bands. As said, without the target being met you simply will not be charged. So, you can pledge perhaps $200 initially and alter your pledge if, in time, you can't afford quite so much. It gives you time to say, 'I want to give [band] this much', then save towards it. It allows for change up until the actual target deadline, so fans are not immediately committed to what might be a spur of the moment purchase.
Like everything, however, it is not without its problems. The uncharged pledge isn't immediately obvious to everyone unless they're familiar with the website. When you pledge you confirm a purchase, but unless you specifically read the details you might not notice that the charge is listed for the deadline date, and isn't taken immediately. This can lead to some confusion; fans may assume they've been charged, then spend a bit more in general because their bank balance isn't quite as low as they thought.
There is also an issue over the artist making the project they promoted. Many bands have started an album and scrapped it half way through. What can start off as one idea can end up a completely different monster by the end, and that might not be what fans paid for. Time constraints might limit the production, or life might simply get in the way and the project might have to be postponed.
The concept as it stands won't be successful if it rolls out for the mass market. If Kickstarter is used specifically for donating and funding an album, people won't be as willing. The reason most of the big success stories are so well funded is the reward scheme. Mindless Self Indulgence offered a unique set of rewards to purchase that stretch far beyond those listed above. The Blackout and The Defiled launched campaigns on Pledge Music that included them performing in your house for a few thousand pounds. It sounds a lot, but split that with a bunch of your friends and you can have a favourite band perform in your house for a reasonable price.
But would fans be so willing to contribute without the special incentives?
Some would, yes, but the culture is not in favour of paying. Less than two hours after the new MSI record was sent out to pledgers via email, many on Twitter and Tumblr were posting asking for links to Torrents. The album itself would have cost them $1 if they'd pledged. To many 60p is too much for a full album, so why would they give more for less in return?
These types of projects are good in theory, and more artists are turning to fans where the label funding simply isn't there. From a fan's point of view, I think they're great. All my experiences have been brilliant - no issues with charging, receiving my reward or the album that was eventually made. There may have been issues for others, but I can only speak from my experience.
This is purely from a fan perspective. I cannot speak in depth about the pros and cons of the service and business aspect from an artist's point of view, but I would imagine that many of the examples overlap with those of fans.
What I can say is that one quote stood out about the fact that - even to artists - there are both positives and negatives. Amanda Palmer asked for $100,000 for her record 'Theatre is Evil' and actually raised over $1,000,000. Speaking of the experience, she said, "Kickstarter for me had its pros and cons, because it did kind of suck attention away from the record which was a bummer. It took a long, long time to build that album a Kickstarter and I was hoping it would be that big. I was thinking if we play everything just right, it would be really big and people would pay attention -- not just to my album, but to the new way of doing things.
"And in some ways, if I am the sacrificial lamb, and some people don't like it, I at least feel, at the end of the day, I am paving the way for other artists to think about this method. People are more likely when talking about crowdfunding, and saying they don't know if it will even work, might point to mine and say it worked for her so maybe it can work for us. And that makes me feel good -- that I might have opened the doors for other artists to use it. I think it is a great system."
When I spoke to William Control last year about his own version of the system - 'Control Project' - he said, "There's no record labels anymore really, so we've got to change a little with it. The only way for artists like myself to make records is to have the money to do it because it's not free. Not just anybody can go make an album and all the other shit that goes with it - mixing, mastering, duplication; this shit costs a lot of money. If my fans want me to make music, I'm obviously trying to give them a product that is worth the money and I honestly feel as if I did. I feel that there was a surprising amount of support and it was surprising the amount of people who came out and bought a package."
And that seems to be the consensus - there are some issues, but the bottom line is people need money to make their music, and they're willing to give their fans their money's worth for their support. This is the new way of doing things, as proven with every new artist who signs up with their campaign. Will this be the solution to the faltering funds for artists? Temporarily, perhaps, but the world has a way of evolving whether or not you like it. I'd say for now, at least, this is definitely a strong factor in the future of how our music is funded and created.
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Well, thanks to websites like Kickstarter and Pledge Music, artists are asking their fans to fund them in a mutual give and take project. Fans pay the money, bands make the music - more often than not they throw in special packages beyond the mere album itself. 
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