Guide to Music Crowdfunding – Part 1: Fans with Benefits (opens in new tab)

what's up G! Long time no see. I love Patreon, it turns crowdfunding on it's head. They're more about a subscription model and delivering on an on-going, digitally delivered relationship, as opposed to the big blowout, whale-heavy model of traditional crowdfunding. Flip side of the same coin, I think artists need to basically do both in the future. I'm not sure what format is next for artists. Honestly I care less about the format as much as I do about the underlying principles, which is finding a way to inject humanity and genuine intimacy into the "sales" process. That's always going to be important in a patronage model. I suppose some sort of CRM element would help with that?

Well, as you know, I had relationships in the music industry from my previous gigs at music startups. One in particular, the manager of The Grouch & Eligh, was someone I could truly geek out with regarding these geeky matters. I had just finished doing a bunch of research on successful campaigns at the same time The Grouch & Eligh were looking to put out an album. Took a little convincing (as often is the case with crowdfundig virgins), but the reasons were too compelling.

I can say with authority that the hesitancy I felt from artists just 1-2 years ago regarding crowdfunding has rapidly been deteriorating. Like exponentially. So much so that I don't mind giving away some of my tricks. There's just so much more demand than there are actual "experts" in this space.