For the uninitiated, crowd funding is when a group of some sort seeks fan funding for a particular venture. The most common projects for bands are new albums, paying for a tour, or replacing stolen gear or broken down vehicles. In return for fans' payment, the bands provide various rewards from the basic "receive a copy of the album for the price you'd pay later anyway" to more extravagant rewards for higher payments like "come and do guest vocals/instrument for the new album" - the fans don't get nothing for their money. "But isn't this something that a record label usually does?" you ask. Only in part, my dear reader. They way the record label usually works with a band is the label provides a loan for the band to cover recording, marketing, and some merchandise. Now, this is not always the case - there are labels who either solely cover distribution and the band pays for the entire thing themselves, and some labels are far more supportive than that. But for the purposes of this discussion, let's take the standard: bands are given a loan that they are required to pay back.
Because that's what the funding for recording, marketing, and merchandising is. That money doesn't belong to the band. In fact, most bands have to pay for their OWN RECORDS if they want to sell copies at shows. Yes, you heard correctly - the bands who wrote and recorded the music have to purchase it from their record label in order to sell it at concerts. Ok, the label did pay for the album, so that can be justified (even if it does elicit the knee-jerk reaction of disgust from the average person). And yes, it's completely reasonable for a label to expect repayment for the money they've put into that band and their music. So, if this is so reasonable, then why would any band opt to do things any other way?The short answer is that the bands see very little profit. "But they're rock stars! They're rich!" you object. This is a very common misconception. The only bands that really see any true profit are the most popular. That means that your average metal or indie or punk or folk artist who sees maybe one single every two years get any real radio time and has little to no recognition outside the underground scene. That, in turn, equates to their only option of concerts being much smaller venues. Sure, they may have a night where they play to several hundred fans, maybe even 1,000 if they're really well known. But how does that compare to people like Lady Gaga, or even Metallica who can play to 10,000 people minimum at each show of a 15 stop tour?
"So what?" you say. "They still can play to decent crowds. I mean, they get paid for every show they play anyway!" Yes, they do get paid for every show. But there are two main ways that happens. The first is that the venue provides them with a paycheck for playing the show. However, they also have to pay the promoters and the agents of all of the bands playing that night, and that comes directly out of the artists' cut, which is usually no more than a couple hundred dollars for the entire band to split. The other method involves the band having to do a pre-sell of tickets. This means that they have to sell a certain amount of tickets before they can even be officially booked for the show, and then the above arrangement takes over. It is worth noting that this particular method is usually reserved for unsigned bands. Bands then get to supplement their earnings with any merchandise that they sell (which also comes out of their pockets if they are not directly supporting a new release with a record label - and sometimes does even then).
Now, that's the income from an average show. Most tours last anywhere from two weeks to two months. For argument's sake, let's assume it's a two month tour. The bands can make up in the tens of thousands if they have a good arrangement and excellent merch sales. "That's more than I make in a year! Now I really don't feel bad for them!" you cry in rage. Not so fast! That's their income, yes, but we have yet to talk about bills. So, let's begin, shall we?
For any tour, the band has to transport themselves, their merch, their merch guy, and all of their gear which requires at least an SUV or a van and a trailer. Being generous, the best in terms of mpg that they can hope for is 20 mpg while towing that trailer. With gas prices averaging around $3.50/gallon, and keeping in mind that a two month tour WILL cross the entirety of the United States, that band will shell out an easy 5-10 thousand dollars on gas alone. Next, let's talk about the average band size. For a metal or punk band, you can easily assume four to six members, plus the merch guy - all of whom need food. Most bands, as mentioned above, are not travelling in RVs or tour buses that have kitchens in which they can cook. They generally have to eat the cheapest, least healthy take out that they can find (or occasionally they are taken in by generous fans who gladly cook for them). Finally, any merch that they wish to sell comes straight out of their pockets. And this argument is not including any unforeseen circumstances like weather conditions preventing a band from making a show, vehicle failure and the cost of repair, or stolen gear and the cost of replacements, which all occur with frightening frequency. All of a sudden, it doesn't seem like the average band has much to spare at this point, does it? In fact, for most bands, a good tour is where they break even, and a great one is when they all leave with a couple hundred dollars to take home to their families.
Which finally brings us to the purpose of crowdfunding. As mentioned above, the band provides a wide variety of rewards for your money. Many include things like digital downloads (for the price you'd pay for it on iTunes later), t-shirt bundles, signed merchandise, and far more unique ones like a pizza party with the band, visiting them in the studio and participating in the record, or even having them play a garage or backyard show at your house - all based on the amount of money you choose to donate. There's no record label to take a cut of the funds, there's no middle man to remove a portion of the profits; everything goes straight to the band. All of this is no different than a preordering an album through the record label. Plus, it gives unsigned bands a chance to reach more fans in this age of social media by providing them with a chance to pay for the kinds of merch that they want to get!
So what's the argument against it? Well, many people think that it comes off as "begging" for money from the fans - but, as noted above, it is no different that asking fans to come to shows, buy the album, or buy a shirt. And that's it. That's the only argument against it. Now, it is true that crowdfunding can be abused, but thanks to policies set in place by platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, even when abuse takes place it is quickly rectified.
And what may be one of my favorite benefits is that it draws bands out of retirement. The band says, "Hey, if you guys want it, we'll quit our jobs and record some new music for you, maybe even do a tour if there's enough interest. And you get to decide what you want to pay. If there's not enough interest, we'll keep doing what we've been doing since we broke up." What would you do if your favorite disbanded group got back together and said they'd put out some new music if there was enough interest for them to quit work and get back into the scene? You'd pay what you could to see them back, wouldn't you? In the past year, I have seen Five Iron Frenzy, Confide, Soul Embraced, Of Machines, and Still Remains all come out of retirement, and I couldn't be happier about it. These bands were very talented and I can't wait to see what they have to offer.
So, crowdfunding seems to be very controversial for reasons that I don't understand. I submit that it is no different than buying merch or preordering an album the traditional way. In fact, it ensures that (minus the small fee that crowdfunding platforms require for hosting the campaign) all of the money goes straight to the band and all of the rewards go straight to the fans. This is the most effective way for bands and fans to get what they want, and it allows far more flexibility for this goal.
(This rant has been aimed specifically at crowdfunding music, but it should be noted that there are literally hundreds of other types of campaigns from jump-starting small businesses to raising money for a cause and many, many more.)
Check out a few of the campaigns I've been following and browse some of the others to find ones you like!
New Still Remains Record
New Austrian Death Machine Record
New Misery Signals Record
No comments:
Post a Comment