Three weeks ago, I launched a kickstarter to fund my band's debut EP. We're a six-piece groove jazz band playing music I write and arrange. Here's our soundcloud page. The band is comprised of trumpet, alto sax, trombone, piano, drums, and myself on bass.
Yesterday, with about 49 hours to go, we hit our target of $2,600. 68 people from all over the US and two other countries came together to support our cause. There are many reasons why we were successful, and I'd like to share.
The first reason we were successful is because we had a reasonable goal. I've recorded on several albums lately. When I asked those bandleaders how much they had spent so far on the album, their numbers were in the $7000-8000 range. I knew that that was a little to far-fetched for us crowdsource, so I started crunching some numbers. What I enjoy about recording jazz music is that all musicians are recorded simultaneously. This differs from most music recordings in that normally, each musician is recorded individually. You can only imagine how much time is saved using the former route - and that's the route we're going. To record 5 (maybe 6) tunes, we're only going to need two days in the studio (May 31 and June 1).
By trimming the fat in this way, and in various other ways, we were able to cut down our goal to $2,600. And, mind you, in that budget is a $200 payout to the other five musicians.
You all likely know the next reason we were successful: hard work. Just about everyday for three days I sent out private messages like a madman. Everyday I would spend about two hours sending anywhere between 10-20 private messages via email or Facebook asking friends to help out with whatever they could. Each of these messages was personalized. Everyone knows when something is copy and pasted, and that doesn't lead to a connection. This time and care does not go unnoticed.
A third reason why we were successful is that we never gave in to doubt. Anyone who tells you they never felt even the slightest bit of doubt when running a crowdfunding campaign is lying. And that's especially true of Kickstarter which runs on an all-or-nothing platform (as compared to GoFundMe or IndiGoGo in which any money raised is kept). Sure there were times when we weren't sure we were going to make our goal. But if we had let that get in the way of progressing, certainly we would never have reached our goal. There are other reasons too, but these are the main ones. Logical goals, hard work, and confidence. I think that in any area of life, this is a recipe for success. The tracks should be ready to share by mid-late July and I'm really looking forward to sharing them with you.
Peace,
BLOB