Rich Fiscus
29 Oct 2007 0:52
Just as in the pre-ecommerce world musicians would often sign with independent labels to finance recording, a new trend is developing that has some bands foregoing traditional financing altogether and raising money on the internet.
Two websites, SellaBand and Slicethepie, offer a musicians a place to gather supporters and financing for recording. Specific goals are set by the services, representing their ideas for how much it realistically costs to have a CD professionally recorded. Site visitors can contribute to a band's efforts for as little as $10. In exchange for this money they get perks ranging from backstage passes to a cut of the resulting CD's profits.
So far eight acts have raised the $50,000 required by Sellaband before money is disbursed. Until patrons, which SellaBand refers to as Believers, have racked up that much, the money stays with the company. Before that time the contributions, known as Parts, can be switched from one artist to another, or withdrawn entirely and returned to the Believer.
Sellaband provides a producer and studio time to funded artists. Believers get Limited edition copies of the resulting CD, with any profits from its sale split between Sellaband, the artist, and all the Believers who helped fund the recording. Three songs from each CD are offered as free downloads from the company's website, and the rest are sold for $0.50 each.
Artists who have made it through the financing process have felt good about the process, although they indicated that it required more one-on-one communication with Believers than the performers were used to. Of course this personal attention to music lovers may prove to be nearly as positive as the opportunity to release a CD.
Source: Reuters