4.52am Issue: 008 13th November 2016

SUE FOLEY
This Ice Queen Cometh
One thing I’ve wanted us to do since we
launched 4.52am all those weeks ago, is to
have a look at Crowdfunding and how it
affects artists and bands who are trying to
get their work out to as wide an audience as
possible.
Is it the obvious answer in these days where
record companies aren’t throwing money at
bands, or is it just another clever way for
companies to take a cut out of an artist’s
earnings without taking a risk on them?
I’ve spent a lot of time watching campaigns
founder, and more often than not it seems
that a lot of musicians are doing it without
really planning properly or even at times,
knowing what it is they are looking for.
There seem to be dozens of bands asking
for thousands to record in some top-notch
studio, without any justification in terms of
preparation, experience or more worrying
any kind of following.
Where once all you used to hear was a
vague ‘Get a deal’, these days it seems to
be an equally misconceived ‘Do a Kickstarter
and record something’ - as though it is
some sort of answer in itself, instead of a
business decision and a sales opportunity, a
way of guaranteeing sales before you start
with all the benefits that offers. But on the
other side, something you are paying the
Crowdfunding company to manage.
And that is something to be remembered,
you pay the company a percentage of
whatever you raise, and if you are an
artist with a following, you may want to
ask yourself why you don’t simply go to
them directly and offer to record an
album by subscription, cutting out the
middleman. It works and as a business,
as surely every artist sees themselves
these days, why give the money away if
you don’t need to?
Of course the counter argument is that
the whole crowdfunding process is in
itself a marketing exercise that will spread
the word about your work, about you and
for the clued-in it certainly can be, for
those that know how to use it, they can
reap great rewards.
You pay your money and make the
choice, but an informed decision would
seem to be key, like anything, you need
to work out what is best for you and the
more information you can find about what
works and what people have done (or not
done) and then failed, is all knowledge
worth having.
It seemed to me that it would be great to
follow a campaign that has been put
together properly, by a credible artist who
knows exactly what is needed not only to
write and record an album, but to get it
released and publicised effectively.