Fan-funding took on its most notorious mission recently, as Kickstarter combined forces with Lester Chambers, of The Chamber Brothers, who broke his silence on the fact he received not even half of the money his label owed him.
The money donated and raised by the public will go towards Lester’s new album, but with a whopping pledge aim of $39,000 are these to good to be true missions a bit far-fetched?
Perhaps not, as 2,193 raised a staggering $61,084, nearly doubling the target. So could this be a future prospect for unsigned bands?
Fan-funding, although unfamiliar for many, has been around for a number years. Rock band Marillion started the trend in 1997 raising £37k toward producing a new album and last year artist Amanda Palmer raised just over 1 million dollars from fan-funding. A number of fan-funding sites have also been created dedicating completely to music projects such as PledgeMusic, Sellaband and ArtistShare. But would you donate?
Well let’s see some of the pros and the cons to handing over your money. You’re helping a band get on their feet and in the future when you see them rocking out on the Glastonbury Pyramid stage you can claim that, without your help, they wouldn’t be up there. Plus, and maybe more motivating, you can get a something along the lines of a signed CD for smaller donations or Skype sessions if you donate a good couple of hundred. Not bad eh’.
And the cons…well you’re however much you donate out of pocket. And when they are rocking out on the Glastonbury stage there could be a bit of envy cos you’ll know they’re rolling in it. But besides that, you know you’ve done a good thing.
So to donate or not to donate that is the question. Let us know your thoughts below!
