How to run an effective funding campaign for your music.
Q: How do you get people to buy your music? A: You sell it to them before it’s even been recorded!
It’s a strange trait of people nowadays… They rarely buy music after it’s been released, but they will happily give artists anything from 5 to 250 €/£/$ to help fund an album or EP!
This is because people buy into the dream. If an artist broadcasts the fact that they want to make waves in the music industry, friends, family, and colleagues will generally respect that bravery and they will want to be part of the reason that this artist becomes the next big thing!
Platforms like GoFundMe are ideal for raising funds to get your music recorded or produced, get music videos done, pay for PR and marketing, new gear, etc. If you can sell the dream to people they will buy into it in large numbers. However, it’s not just a matter of launching a campaign and watching the money roll in. You need to persist for a number of months to make it work.
Here’s some tips and advice from a client of mine, Con Murphy, who raised €5,000 towards his album using the GoFundMe platform and social media channels.
Observations:
I have more fans than I realised I had. Genuine tangible people who wanted to see that I get it done. You may not realise this but they are there willing you on and will come out to support you if you launch a campaign.
People live that ambition and dream with you and want to see you do well and get your album done.
People’s perceptions of the world of music are different to yours - their openness to support and generously donate to your campaign will give you heart, hope and essentially energy to rise above the challenging elements of your music career or ambitions.
Your friends and family will be the first to donate - this is and always will be the foundation and bread and butter of your campaign. Thank them like they gave you a winning lottery ticket.
Be patient, go with the flow of your own energy and don’t be afraid to step away from it for periods of time as you recharge and come up with new ideas. There is no expiry on a gofundme campaign.
Initiatives and approaches that worked well:
I started by simply reaching out and saying in my video posts “I need your help to make this a reality, if you would like to be part of this album you can click the link and donate”. This generated the first few donations as people just did so because they wanted to without needing an incentive.
I then started to promote that every donation was essentially pre-ordering a signed copy of the album. This is an important cost to keep in mind. I am sending out approx 120 albums at a cost of approx €200 to me.
My video updates got a great response - I essentially kept on making sure people knew how much it meant to me. I mentioned dates I was able to book in the studio, and the odd time when I messaged someone directly through messenger or text to thank them for a donation - I told them what song their donation was helping record. People like to feel genuinely involved and this way they are part of it without you having to give things away at a cost.
My Instagram stories updated people with how many ‘pre-orders’ there were. If I was at 65 donations I would post something like “We’re at 65 this morning, can we make it 70 by this evening”. People absolutely loved being part of this and wanted to be that no.70. Sometimes this approach generated up to 20 donations in a day.
I was clear about the reality of where their donation was going. If you think about it - yes, your campaign will allow you to have time in the studio and record your song/album. In doing that you are in turn creating employment for a whole network of people in the music industry. You are employing a studio engineer, a producer, musicians to play on your songs, duplication companies to produce your CD, venue staff when you play your album, bar staff, security, sound engineers, the list is endless… make sure you share that with your donors. I would use a term such as; “Your donation has a ripple effect in the music industry that creates employment for a whole network of people”. This is the truth and something you should be proud of. You’re raising funds that will support more than just you.
When the campaign was starting to come towards the end I was still short of where I needed to be. I made the decision to incorporate the names of the pledgers into the album artwork. You could do this in a number of ways such as having a booklet, a pull out insert or into the artwork in a creative way. People absolutely loved this and were really enthusiastic about seeing their name included in some way. It generated new and repeat donations. Yes, some people donated 4 times!!!
I only did a few live videos of songs. I didn’t want to flood my page with these as I actually think for me less is more in this regard as people have a shorter attention span. I think I did 3 songs in the 6 months and people really saw it as a treat.
I did 1 giveaway where I had t-shirts from a launch show I did a couple of years ago. Again, using the technique of “if we make it to 100 donations by 10pm, the 100th donation will win the tee”. People do respond and want to be that winner.
If you are sitting at a figure like €970 - you can be sure someone will want to round it up to €1000. Update on your socials as to the running total - people will donate to see the number change.
I found that stepping away from pushing it for even a few weeks at a time was really healthy for me and it made sure I didn’t bombard.
Give plenty of time
Cost out where you need the bulk of funds to go - recording or promotion
My advice is get the album and music recorded - look at it like a degree that is a passport to opportunities.
There is no such thing as being overly thankful. Message everyone who donates directly.
Keep people involved. Make it more about them than you at times. “You guys are making this happen”.
Pick your ideas for generating interest - use my tips if you would like - I raised over 5k in 6 months. My approach worked for my network, it may work for yours.
Remind people of the ripple impact on the music world from their donation.
Close your campaign with enough space to encourage people to come back and buy a ticket to your launch show.
You are building a genuine fan base here, go back to them with first refusal on things and invite them to subscribe for updates.
The campaign will teach you that people genuinely care about you and your music. A lot of people in the industry will view you as a commodity - not everyone but it’s dog eat dog, the people who donate are not in this category. Cling to that.