crowdfunding for musicians by tunefund
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was first presented at Sam Ash Music in Manhattan in June 2012 by Greg Remillard, the founder of TuneFund, a crowdfunding site for musicians and independent labels. The presentation covers every aspect of creating and running a successful crowdfunding campaign from setting a funding goal to promoting a campaign with social media. http://www.tunefund.com @tunefundTRANSCRIPT
Crowdfunding for Musicians What You Need to Know to Set Up and Manage a Successful Campaign
Presented by Greg Remillard Founder, TuneFund.com
Sponsored by:
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Table of Contents
The New Music Business
What is Crowdfunding?
How Can Crowdfunding Help Me?
General Interest Sites
Music Focused Sites
Anatomy of a Campaign
SeLng a Funding Goal
Sample Budget
ContribuMon Levels and Rewards
Reward Ideas
About Asking for Money
The Pitch Video
Video Examples
DescripMon, Updates, Music, Images
Typical Campaign “U” Curve
Commit!
Time SensiMve Offers
Email MarkeMng
Social Media MarkeMng
PR
TuneFund Features
Thank You!!
Addendum: MarkeMng Tools
The New Music Business
"The basic tenets of success in music are sMll true: have good songs, touch people, work hard. But as far as geLng around from place to place... musicians are no longer traveling by limo with one‐way glass protecMng them from view. Now we're all going on foot, door to door, in the open sunshine... with the internet as our magical, Mme‐space defeaMng sidewalk.” ‐ Amanda Palmer, Independent Musician Raised $1,192,793. Funding target: $100,000
What is Crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is a new form of patronage facilitated by online funding sites that make it easy for people to raise money in the form of “micro‐donaMons” from their own networks of contacts as well as their broader communiMes.
ARTIST
FRIEND
FAMILY
COMMUNITY
FAN
How Can Crowdfunding Help Me?
Crowdfunding is available for nearly every type of project or need
For musicians crowdfunding can help cover basic costs like: Recording Touring MarkeMng Video Web development Merchandise ProducMon
General Interest Sites
General Project Based Sites Kickstarter
Largest, most well known general interest site All or nothing model 5% fee for successful projects
Indiegogo IniMally film focused, now general interest site Keep what you raise or all or nothing models 4% / 9% or 4%
Rockethub General interest site Keep what you raise with more opMons for hiLng goal 4% / 8%
All sites charge between 3% ‐ 5% cc processing fee
Music Focused Sites
TuneFund Keep what you raise 10% fee Will build campaign for
musician
PledgeMusic All or nothing 15% fee Charity Me‐in
SellaBand Keep what you raise 15% fee ArMst / fan revenue share
opMon
Feed the Muse Arts focused, mostly music 10% fee
All sites charge between 3% ‐ 5% cc processing fee
Anatomy of a Campaign
Funding Goal
ContribuMon Levels and Rewards
Credit Card Processing
Pitch Video
Wriken DescripMon / Bio
Music Player
Social Media IntegraMon
Updates / Comments
Image Gallery
Setting a Funding Goal
Create a budget for your project Determine all costs Itemize in a spreadsheet (or whatever works) Add at least 10% conMngency
Factor in cost of rewards
Factor in crowdfunding site’s fee and credit card processing fee
Taxes: Funds raised are typically considered income and are not tax deducMble unless you have 501(c)(3) status. Be sure to speak to your accountant to determine the best way to handle the funds raised for that tax year.
Sample Budget
Contribution Levels and Rewards
Have a wide range of contribuMon levels within these parameters: small ($20 ‐ $100) • medium ($150 ‐ $500) • large ($600 ‐ $1000) • over $1000
80 / 20 rule: 80% of your contribuMons will be in the < $25 ‐ $50 range while 20% will be big contribuMons
Every contribuMon is matched with a reward that should be commensurate in value with the contribuMon e.g. a reward for a contribuMon of $50 is a tee shirt that cost you $12 to make
Rewards should provide the contributor with a sense of inclusion or shared experience – it’s why they’re funding you!
Study your network to determine the overall “wealth curve” and set contribuMon levels accordingly
Have FUN with your rewards
Reward Ideas
Pre‐release CD or download
Signed CD (DVD, etc.)
Show Mckets
Handwriken lyric sheets
Email / Phone interview
Skype conversaMon / concert
Mix tape
Custom song or cover song request
Signed instrument
“One of a kind” giu (clothes, art, etc.)
Backstage visit
House concert
Credit (ExecuMve Producer, etc.)
Music lessons
Dinner or drinks with the band
About Asking for Money
Don’t be shy!
Accept that you are asking people close to you for focused financial assistance (for your career) and be comfortable with it.
“This is business. Not personal.”
This effort is for a predetermined amount of Mme e.g. the length of your campaign. Don’t freak out.
The Pitch Video
“Success rates of projects without a video are much lower than those with. Video is the best opportunity to make an emoMonal connecMon with potenMal backers.” – Yancey Strickler, Kickstarter Co‐Founder
Key concept: “EmoMonal ConnecMon” Video allows you to make that connecMon and is the most powerful fundraising tool at your disposal
Don’t sweat producMon values, a basic point‐and‐shoot digital camera (or iPhone camera!) then edited in iMovie is how most pitch videos are made
Make it creaMve and fun – this is entertainment with a purpose!
Keep it short – 3 minutes MAX!
Describe your band and/or music, your project, how much you need to raise and how the money will be used
Video Examples
Video examples Lucius;
hkp://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/carmenvandiego
Amanda Palmer; hkp://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda‐palmer‐the‐new‐record‐art‐book‐and‐tour
Nataly Dawn; hkp://www.kickstarter.com/projects/555488012/nataly‐dawns‐first‐solo‐album
Description, Updates, Music, Images
The Campaign DescripMon is your pitch and bio in wriken form and should include: Anything that will make your campaign stand out – working with
Steve Albini? Talk about his credenMals and how working with him has always been your dream
A bio of yourself or band and any highlights from your career
Use the campaign update feature early and ouen. Keep the momentum going with frequent updates.
Images are just another type of update. Post images of your sessions, rehearsals, performances, fans. Post a lot, all the Mme.
If possible upload demos of the songs you’ll be recording
Whenever you post any kind of media to your campaign be sure to men;on the updates on all your social media profiles.
Typical Campaign “U” Curve
Campaigns typically have a big spike at the beginning then dip down as Mme goes on. There is typically another big spike at the end of the campaign as the campaign owner cranks up the markeMng to close the campaign.
Avoid the dip with regular updates on your campaign page and social media.
Constantly work your network! Send reminders on a regular frequency to your friends and family to post to their networks on your behalf.
Commit!
“I understood this commitment going in from reading about how others handled their campaign…but I sMll wasn’t prepared for the realiMes of it. Working on gaining exposure and new eyes every day was extremely Mme consuming. Think of it like placing a media ad and having it in heavy rotaMon — but you’re doing it yourself and not relying on an agency. I spent at least 4‐6 hours every day on the campaign — if not more.”
‐ Gary King, Independent Filmmaker
Use Special Offers or ‘Blitzes’
“My most successful day of fundraising (where I raised about 33% of my funds in 24 hours) was when I did a digital push that simply said: ‘I need $27 more dollars to clear the $2,000 mark. Anyone who donates $27 or more in the next 24 hours will get a free download for ALL of my previous albums.’ By naming a SPECIFIC AMOUNT, in a SPECIFIC TIME‐FRAME, with a SPECIFIC REWARD, tons and tons of people stepped up then and there. Like I said, 33% of my total was raised in that 24 hours.” ‐Folk singer/songwriter Tyler Stenson
Email Marketing
The majority of your contribu;ons will come from your friends and family. You’ll want to market to this group first to get some contribu;ons rolling in so your campaign has ac;vity before you go wide.
Target this group first with a campaign announcement
Create a mailing list for each segment of your network
Tailor an email blast for each segment including the subject line
Be sure to ASK FOR THE CONTRIBUTION – don’t be shy, this is what fundraising is all about!
Email Marketing
Be sure to ask everyone to forward the email or campaign link to their own networks via email, Facebook, Twiker, etc.
Create a mailing list of your fans (if you don’t have one) and musician connecMons and follow the steps above to create an announcement email blast to this group.
Depending on the duraMon of your campaign send weekly or bi‐weeky email updates to your lists. Include the following Funding progress Project updates Special prizes if a certain amount is reached by a certain
date
Social Media Marketing
Post updates and campaign widget (if available) on all sites and social media profiles including: Band Website Myspace Facebook Twiker Youtube Tumblr Bandcamp Site ReverbNaMon Site
Have a strong presence on Twiker, tweet about your band and campaign daily (but make the tweets interesMng)
Tumblr is a great resource for building a fan base and potenMal donors. Post text and/or images ouen
Get into your friend’s Facebook Timeline
PR
Write a release for your campaign
Send it to all local newspaper’s entertainment editors
Send it to relevant music bloggers Blogger EMqueke:
Comment on some posMngs first, breaks the ice Follow on Twiker Email the blogger and ask if you can send them the
release
TuneFund Features
Unlike other crowdfunding sites (Kickstarter, etc.), TuneFund was created by musicians, for musicians
TuneFunder’s can upload three songs to a dedicated music player on their campaign
TuneFund’s support staff will build your campaign for no charge! You’ll be guaranteed the everything is set up perfectly
We provide coaching every step of the way including campaign planning, email us at [email protected] to schedule a planning call
Thank You!!
Thank you for akending this seminar! If you have any follow up quesMons please do not hesitate to contact me at: [email protected]
Good luck with your careers and fundraising endeavors!
Marketing Tools
Following is a list of online tools that will help market your campaign effecMvely. Most are free.
Mail Chimp (hkp://mailchimp.com) ‐ Are you old school and send out emails to your list? Here's a way to get beker at tracking how those emails do. Mail Chimp allows you to send to a list, add names/emails easily, and design templates. With MailChimp, You can announce your TuneFund campaign how you want, make it look good and get data on how the email blast performed.
Konnect.me (hkp://konect.me) ‐ A tool that allows you to sync up social media and content depositories. Want to do something a likle more special than just tweeMng the status of your campaign? Record a video of one of your songs and share it as a thank you. With this tool, you can upload it to FB or YouTube and it will get sent out to other SM via link.
TweetDeck (hkp://www.tweetdeck.com) ‐ Allows you to schedule tweets/FB posts and other things across mulMple accounts which would be handy if you were trying to talk to your fans as well as your friends...or send out separate updates to the two different groups.
Bufferapp (hkp://www.bufferapp.com) ‐ Allows you to schedule your updates to your social media accounts. Good interface and comes with analyMcs. Modify the Mmes of day your updates are sent, add more or less scheduled tweets and FB updates. A good simple tool.
Marketing Tools
Crowdbooster (hkps://crowdbooster.com) – Connects with your social networks, does some analysis and gives you back a report. Best feature; it tells you when the best Mme to send out updates is, based on who you are and who your audience is.
SocialOomph (hkps://www.socialoomph.com) ‐ Robust updaMng tool that also allows you to find influenMal people, vet followers, track keywords and manage DM boxes and so much more.
Tweet Reach (hkp://tweetreach.com) ‐ It's basically like Google AnalyMcs for Twiker. Type in a search term, they let you know how far it will go out. Super helpful for trying to come up with the best #hashtag
Splash.fm (hkp://splash.fm/top/tracks/7d/everyone ) ‐ A social media integrated pla~orm to share music. This would be a way to engage your audience and send musical valenMnes to your most ardent fans, or just people who kind of dig your music. While not directly akributable towards campaign promoMon, it’s definitely a way to engage fans, let them know you're listening to them ,and possibly convince them to donate to your campaign.
Marketing Tools
This is My Jam (hkp://www.thisismyjam.com) ‐ Another way to share music, either yours or your favorites, with people, which engages them and would also give you a chance to, perhaps during the campaign, give a song to the fans who have donated. Which, if promoted somewhat, would possibly encourage people to donate e.g. “Haven't donated to my campaign? Today at 5pm, I'll be sharing something special with everyone who's already contributed, so if you want something awesome, now's your chance!”
FanBridge (hkp://www.fanbridge.com) ‐ This is a markeMng tool designed for musicians. Offers a few tools across pla~orms, but one of the more interesMng ones is GeotargeMng. With a large enough fan base, a musician could eblast people in a specific area about a show they're playing.
TweetForATrack (hkp://www.twee~oratrack.com/signup) ‐ Tweet a track with a link to a download. Your fan clicks the link, but before he can download the track, he has to re‐tweet/re‐post about the track. Throw in a promoMon for your TuneFund campaign for some viral promoMon.