Depending on how familiar you are with Kickstarter, you are likely to have an opinion for or against. I wanted to use this post as an opportunity to educate those of you not familiar while also getting the opinions of those who already have thoughts.
Kickstarter is a site dedicated to giving people an opportunity to get their project funded. It is slowly becoming a recognized component in the music industry and each week more and more vinyl projects are getting set up in hopes of seeking funding. Kickstarter explains that: Every Kickstarter project must be fully funded before its time expires or no money changes hands. Why? It’s less risk for everyone. If you need $5,000, it’s tough having $2,000 and a bunch of people expecting you to complete a $5,000 project. It allows people to test concepts (or conditionally sell stuff) without risk. If you don’t receive the support you want, you’re not compelled to follow through. This is huge! It motivates. If people want to see a project come to life, they’re going to spread the word. The interesting thing is that your card doesn’t get charged until the project gets their full funding. If it doesn’t reach it’s goal, your card is never charged.
I think this could be a really interesting way of having labels and artists release new records with no risk. Sure, it might look bad if a project doesn’t reach the funding needed to continue, but it also gives the project starter an idea of how much demand is their for a given project. I have considered using Kickstarter to raise funds to put out records by bands that I love but might be broken up and I have no idea if others would be stoked. I have recently started talks with Equal Vision about pressing The Snake the Cross The Crown’s “Cotton Teeth”, an album I love by an artist not active. The record will have to be a double LP which gets a lot more expensive to press and having Kickstarter involved could help get the album pressed while gauging interest. There are a ton of records like this that could benefit from Kickstarter, a few that come to mind include Gatsbys American Dream, The Cardinal Sin, The Gamits, Dessa, man the list can go on and on. I’m sure you can think of more than a few.
Last week, I posted a mention of an LP by TwoThirtyEight seeking funding through Kickstarter. The time to pledge is nearly over (under 24 hours to go), but congratulations to Fat Sandwich Records as they were able to successfully raise the funds to get this project off the ground. If you were to take a look at Kickstarter right now and do a search for the word vinyl, you will get 3 pages of results of labels and artists looking to raise funds to press their next record. Here are a few worth noting:
It’s interesting to see which projects get funded and which don’t quite make it. Of the 36 projects that come up on a search of vinyl, 9 were successful and 4 have reached or surpassed their goals with time left to go.
Labels – I’d like to hear your thoughts for or against, especially if you had the experience of starting a project through Kickstarter.
Record Collectors – I’d like to hear what your thoughts on Projects seeking funding through Kickstarter. Do you view this as a Pre-order that you will have to wait forever to get? Or is it fun to be a part of the making of a new project come to fruition?
United Pressing has gotten involved with Kickstarter offering labels free test pressings for each pledge of $50 they receive. I am not sure how long money takes to exchange between Pledgers, Kickstarter, and the Project starter, but it would be great if United offered to get projects started when they reach their goals even if there is more time before it is over.
Let me know your thoughts, I personally think it is a great option for anyone trying to get their project off the ground.
May 14, 2010 
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