Recording a record can be a costly endeavor. Finding a studio that can create a great sounding product is easier and cheaper than ever but long studio hours and hiring additional musicians can add up. This expense can stop some artists from putting out music that fans may be waiting for. Even bands with multiple releases can sometimes have difficulty funding a new record.
Along comes Pledge Music, a Kickstarter-style fundraiser for musicians. Whether you’re trying to complete a new record, pay for a tour, film a music video or put out a compilation of B-sides, Pledge Music can help you get it done. After you sign up with their service as an artist you submit your project to them for assessment. They use their experience as recording musicians and as managers and marketers of major label artists to determine the potential of the fan base and viability of the project.
After green-lighting a project they connect with your networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more) and get the pledge drive rolling. Pledge Music’s app tracks the progress of the pledge drive and allows fans to add badges to their own site and pages, extending the reach of the project. Once the target amount has been reached the band receives a the majority of the money with the remainder released upon fulfillment of the final product.
Pledge Music asks that for each project the band makes something available for free to the pledgers – a digital album, EP or video. The company’s fee for the service is 15% of the total a project raises. Fans are not charged until the project hits it’s goal unless they pay via PayPal in which case their money comes out immediately and will be refunded if a project fails to hit it’s goal.
Pledge Music has been successful for many bands from unknowns to veterans like Fishbone and the Damnwells. If you have music you need to release but don’t have the means to do it, take heart – help is out there.
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