Billboard has up a article on the shortcoming of Public Enemy’s recent SellABand campaign. The group fell short of their $250K goal, getting less than 25% of that, leading much of the music industry writing off the latest foray into an alternative to traditional label structures. We at Musformation believe in the future power of fan funded projects whether they are through SellABand, KickStarter or MyBandStock, but before they are going to work artists need to learn how to teir these incentives properly. Previously, we
talked about some of the way they could have done this better. Today’s Billboard article makes important points that the incentives were out of touch with the value of the project but it can also be argued the project fell short in a few different ways. In order to get the crowdfunding movement to move forward we need to aknowledge the failures of bad policy and understand how in the future artists can make it a viable method to survive on. Here are some more thoughts on how PE could have done it better.
talked about some of the way they could have done this better. Today’s Billboard article makes important points that the incentives were out of touch with the value of the project but it can also be argued the project fell short in a few different ways. In order to get the crowdfunding movement to move forward we need to aknowledge the failures of bad policy and understand how in the future artists can make it a viable method to survive on. Here are some more thoughts on how PE could have done it better.
- Publicity - The project had a decent web buzz, but it would have been smart to take some of the initial investment and put it towards getting more of the word out. For a group whose diehard fans are now aged (at best), you need to get into many mainstream press outlets to get the word out on this very new idea. The groups fans are not teenaged blog readers, but instead people who have more on their plate than spanning blogs all day long. Insert “you have to spend money to make money” mantra here.
- Trust - Many fans no longer trust the group to come out with anything resembling the word “listenable”. After years of disappointing records fans no longer trust thr group to produce a good record. If the group put out a strong single in front or proof that they will be giving us something compelling to listen to, it would gain much more of an investment.
- Value - As The Billboard article stated, much of the tiered incentives to join were designed with a very out touch hyperbole of what fans will actually pay for. While some (very few) will be dedicated enough to purchase some very crazy incentives (see Butch Walker and Josh Freese’s recent foray’s into tiered incentives). TopSpin’s recent blog on music marketing in 2010 shows some great insight into how to properly price and sell these incentives to get the maximum people on board. PE clearly didn’t follow these guidelines.