Master thesis about Christian rock and crowdfunding

Thanks for subscribing to my channel and your comments about my music!

Messiaen, I think you made a good point with the PBS thing. No, I don't think they are greedy. I think how a band goes about asking for money is more of a variable than I thought.

"Support our art - donate now! If X is met, we'll have the money to press the album now rather than later!" Seems noble enough. No real qualms because the context is supporting because of love for that art. Like your PBS example.

"We want to record a new album. We need $3000." Now the context isn't the art or music, now it's about buying supplies for a band. Asking for "stuff", while not necessarily wrong (I said it bordered on being unethical in my prior post), when asking for money this way, if you don't meet goal, then it's still free cash for the band.

I'm sure you guys might have already assumed this, I've seen a few Christian metal indigogo/gofundme/whatever accounts that really rubbed me the wrong way. I feel it would be tacky to list them here, so... sorry, I won't do that.

...but me seeing those accounts and this thread starting pretty close to the same time, it was a perfect storm for me to broadcast my butthurt about it.

Does that make more sense?

Alan TWWB wrote:This has been such an informative thread.  I really appreciate everyone's views.  Right now, The World Will Burn (Dale Thompson and me) are considering a Kickstarter or other crowdfunding campaign but not for the full project.  We get it that we are a new band, even though a lot of people know Dale through his work with BRIDE.  We aren't going to raise $25K like a lot of other bands.  We are paying for everything out of pocket, but it would be a huge help to have crowdfunding to pay for the mixing, mastering, and printing.  I hope music fans will see that this part of the project helps them the most, as we want to deliver a professional sounding and looking product.  
Another thing about crowdfunding we like is that we can offer things besides just the music.  Packages that include merchandise, personalized memorabilia, and so forth are pretty cool.  I really want to have a level where folks can get mentioned on the CD insert, which I think in a great reward.  
What do you guys think is a reasonable goal?
Do you guys prefer to fund using Kickstarter?  Indigogo?  Another one?

Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or GoFundme doesn't matter to me as a fan -- it's the band I'm supporting, regardless of the platform.  But they each have different percentages and costs/benefits for the artist so you should look at that carefully.

A reasonable goal would be whatever your band needs to cover your actual expenses, and if you want to cover your time then whatever your time is worth to each of you.  Only you guys can answer that.  Most indie bands seem to ask between $5K and $20K.

Alan TWWB wrote:Do you guys prefer to fund using Kickstarter?  Indigogo?  Another one?

It all depends on the project. I think GoFundMe is better suited for personal stuff, like raising money to pay for a funeral, etc

Kickstarter is great for business ventures or if you have an idea for a great product/service

Indiegogo I feel is better for smaller projects or independent stuff and arts. At least that's my take on the 3.

I have used all 3 with very little success so far, with the exception of the GoFundMe for Antoine, that went exceedingly well. One thing people forget with crowdfuning is that you have to put forth effort to promote and engage your potential audience. Share the link on social media and try to get others to share it.

I'm not sure about kickstarter but indiegogo has a custom algorithm in place that determines what projects get placed on the front page. Its called the "Gogo Factor". I've learned a lot about it recently. Basically your gogo factor score is calculated based on a number of factors.

- Sharing your custom igg.me link on social media
- Posting updates
- Comments on your page
- Percent funded
- Number of unique backers (regardless of amount)
- Activity on page
- Number of pictures

Basically it boils down to a keeping a steady flow of content and activity on your campaign. Also I hear that everywhere your igg.me link is posted tracks back to indiegogo and factors into their analytics for your gogo score, so social media shares are important.

you can google gogo factor and learn more though. For this reason I am spamming my indiegogo link like a madman and posting updates every single day. Hoping to get on the front page.

Why does everything have to be so complicated!?  Anyway, we were thinking that we could just offer the same packages for sale on our website...different levels of support that gets all the cool stuff available from crowdfuning sites like Kickstarter. The real problem is if anybody will actually go to the website.  Maybe with crowdfunding new fans can find your music and support it.  In our case, most of our support will be from people that already know something of The World Will Burn, and so maybe that will work.

I know I support Kickstater projects but have a hard time searching for new ones.  If I see the link posted I am good to go but just going to the site and looking for a cool project to support is tricky, IMO.

I think what you are talking about it could work well Alan.  I'm sure there are people who just go to crowdfunding sites to find stuff to support, but I think most people click links that are shared, which would work the same way whether you were linking to a Kickstarter page or your own.  It sounds like what you are talking about is similar to what you see on Pledge Music, with different packages that can be pre-ordered.

New episode of Family Guy had a jab at crowd funding. Stewie, Brian and Frank Sinatra Jr. go to start an Italian restaurant. When Brian asks how they'll afford it, Frank Sinatra Jr says

"Well I setup a Kickstarter... until I realized how stupid that was, so then I went to the bank for a loan like an adult"

LOL

Hey everyone !

I hope you are fine and you had great time with all people you love during Christmas !
I just let you know how my master thesis goes. I didn't work on it since October because I had an internship but I will work on it this month and in January.

I will try to find other people who have give money to Christian rock band and some band who launch crowdfunding campaign.

I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas ! with a little delay :/

Thanks again for those who had helping me !

ThomasEversole wrote:New episode of Family Guy had a jab at crowd funding. Stewie, Brian and Frank Sinatra Jr. go to start an Italian restaurant. When Brian asks how they'll afford it, Frank Sinatra Jr says

"Well I setup a Kickstarter... until I realized how stupid that was, so then I went to the bank for a loan like an adult"

LOL

Yes, because going into debt to record a project in a musical climate that won't allow you to make enough to make the payments is so much smarter.

Hi all !

I hope you're fine !

I want to thank you again for your help !
I passed my master thesis (and my master degree), thanks to you ! the mark of my thesis is 15/20.

I wish you the best.
Elodie

Glad we all could help!

hELlo_die wrote:Hi all !

I hope you're fine !

I want to thank you again for your help !
I passed my master thesis (and my master degree), thanks to you ! the mark of my thesis is 15/20.

I wish you the best.
Elodie

Congrats!