Welcome to Part 11 of an ongoing, immediate experiment. For the last 10 weeks, and over the next 6, we’ll learn together as I (Secrets in Stereo) write, record, promote, and release my new album.
To catch up, here are links to the past 10 weeks worth of blogs…
Part 1 - Meet The Artist
Part 2 - 3 Things That Have Let Me Quit My Day Job
Part 3 - 5 Things Music Supervisors Are Looking For in You and Your Music
Part 4 - 5 Truths About Licensing Companies
Part 5 - 5 Rules to Follow When Getting Your Music to Music Supervisors
Part 6 - The First 3 Questions of Artist Positioning
Part 7 - A Real Life, Current Example of Artist Positioning at its Finest
Part 8 - Applying Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics to an Album Release
Part 9 - 3 Key Tactics For The Release of The New Secrets In Stereo Album
Part 10 – 5 Blogs Every Indie Artist Should Read Every Day
This week, I want to expand upon one of my Tactics… Fan Funding. It seems to be a buzz word lately, but with only a handful of examples out there, it can be hard to know if it’s right for you. Well, I’m just about through with my Fan Funding campaign, so I thought I would pass along what I’ve learned. Good and bad. It really boils down to these 5 keys to success (For each Key, there is a “Me” section where I’ll give my personal experience)
1. DIY or Kickstarter.com
First things first. Who is going to facilitate the campaign? You or a third party? (From this point forward, the “third party” will be called Kickstarter. They are the only company I’ve seen that’s worth considering) Obviously, there are pros and cons for both sides. The pro for Kickstarter, is they provide a platform and a home for your campaign. The con, they take a 5% cut. The pro for DIY is you keep 100% of the money. The con, you have to build a web page and incorporate Paypal buttons.
Me – I was lucky to have a friend who is a genius with HTML code. So, it made sense for me to build my fan funding page right into my own site. But, if I didn’t have that friend, I wouldn’t think twice about using Kickstarter.
2. An Existing Foundation of Fans
There is no point in even thinking about a fan funding project if you don’t have a solid infrastructure set up. By “infrastructure,” I mean an active Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account, and most importantly, an large email list. The “if you build it, they will come” strategy won’t work here. You are going after the most devoted of your fans. This is usually about 10% of your email list. So, you need to have a pretty big army to pitch to, and to have them pitch for you.
Me – I had just over 2,000 emails on my email list. I can tell you from experience, that is about as low as you probably want to go with.
3. Fans with Credit Cards
This one is sooooo obvious, yet so important. Yes, you can accept checks. But, the majority of your commerce with this, is going to be through cards. Before you jump in, make sure you know your fan profile. Are they 35 and middle class? Or, are they 16 and living with their parents?
Me – Remember how I said this one was obvious? Well, I slightly overlooked it. I have two factions of fans. One, is 24-35, and the other is 15-18. So, basically, my potential funders were cut down substantially before I ever launched the campaign.
4. Smart Price Points
This is, again, all based upon your fan profile. If they’re college aged, then you might want to offer the bulk of your packages in the $10-$75 range. If they are mid 30′s working class, then maybe lean a little higher, while also adding a few “just go for it” levels (ie. $500-$5,000). You never know.
Me – I looked at some other successful campaigns on Kickstarter of bands that had, what I thought, similar audiences. I noticed the most popular package with those bands was in the $25 range. So, feeling confident I could get the up sale, I sweetened my $25 package by making sure it was a significant upgrade from the $10. Also, I added a number of high dollar packages, and someone purchased my $2,500 one.
5. Rare Content That’s Targeted
As much as we would like to think that a fan is purchasing a package to help us out, they aren’t. They are purchasing that package because of its content. And, the most enticing content is rare, exclusive, personalized, and targeted. It has to resonate with the people you are going after. You have to give them a reason to buy.
Me – My music has really connected with Twilight fans, and I have a lot of them as fans myself. Because of this, I created two special packages just for them. The exclusive content in the packages were based around the two songs that have really resonated with that fandom.
Hopefully, this shed some light on idea of Fan Funding. I had a modest goal of $5,000, and even with my mistake of overlooking the fact that a large portion of my fans didn’t have credit cards, I was able to meet that (thanks to the purchase of the $2,500 package). To be honest, it’s pretty hard to mess a Fan Funding campaign up. There isn’t much overhead, and it doesn’t take a lot of time or energy to do it right. So, if you can follow these Keys, go for it!
Until next week!
Josh
www.twitter.com/SecretsinStereo
www.facebook.com/SecretsinStereo
P.S. If you’re finding what I’m saying interesting, maybe other people will too! Pass along these blogs on Twitter, Facebook, and through Email. Thanks!
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
