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The music industry is forever changing, not just for top level bands like Radiohead but for more local and underground bands coming up through the ranks. The businesses website Forbes written by Barrett (2013) describes crowdfunding as “Accelerating angel investing and creating an entirely new market for investment”. Some examples of crowdfunding websites are Kickstarter and Indiegogo, with both being big in the United States and United Kingdom. Tools like Crowdfunding and the pay as you want method are helping bands: a) Get their music out their faster and more effectively; b) bands are able to avoid having to deal with major labels and c) it enables fans to be more interactive with the bands and show their support for their favorite artists. Throughout this blog post I will be looking at the positives and negatives of crowdfunding and why so many underground bands appear to be getting it so wrong. The issues with crowdfunding, Radiohead’s pay as you want album ‘Honesty Box’ and Thom Yorke’s solo album that was released via bit torrent will also be discussed. Finally this blog will investigate fandom and its impact and role on the music industry.

The Positives and negatives about crowdfunding

There are a lot of positives when it comes to crowdfunding as an underground band. The first positive is that “Crowdfunding minimises the tedious fundraising process (and its associated time and cost) so entrepreneurs have the ability to spend more time where it counts, on the business.  Scrappy entrepreneurs from humble means are no longer disadvantaged when trying to launch companies from scratch.” (Dupree, 2015). One of the downsides to crowdfunding is that it appears as though a lot of the crazy ideas achieve funding and this can detract from a band trying to gain funding their first E.P. album or project. Many more ideas have been founded through crowdfunding and through this more niche markets are achieving exposure. “More ideas get funded today than can possibly return capital, but with crowdfunding the percentage of successes markedly decreases.  A lion's share of crowdfunded investments will never make money and investors will be out-of-luck.  While small, fragmented investments limit the catastrophic risk to any single investor, too many failures will give crowdfunding a bad rap and prompt regulatory tightening.” (Dupree, 2015).

Tips on Crowdfunding

This video shows some great tips for bands/artists looking to head down the crowdfunding route. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIAHHi04aoY 

So from the video we can see that it’s easy to set up a crowdfunding account and gain support from fans. It is important to note however, that what might work for one person might not work for you or your band. This is something that should be kept in mind at all times when dealing with setting up a crowdfunding account. Now we move on to the issues with Crowdfunding and where most bands tend to have problems and make small mistakes.

The Issues with Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding allows fans to back artists and gain rewards for helping them out. For example some artist might offer fans an advanced copy of the Album or the EP, however a fan might have to pay a certain sum of money for this. This can sometimes create massive issues, especially for newer bands coming up through a local scene. In an article written by Nick Laugher (2014) on “Why are so many musicians bad at crowdfunding” he stated that “Here’s a newsflash, it’s 2014. Someone buying your digital download for $10 is just laughable, especially as a crowdfunding perk. I mean, come on, Thom Yorke just dropped a solo album for $6 and even that came with a video. So please, do not do this.”

Another thing to keep in mind is that “In crowdfunding, more is not necessarily better.” (Trigonis, 2014). Most bands or artists will overdo it and have way too many perks that are nothing special and sometimes unnecessary. It is important to ensure your prices match, make sure that the perks aren’t too high and don’t detract people away from the goal you’re trying to achieve. “Start with a $5 social media shout out at the very least. You don’t want to make people believe that there is a minimum amount of $25 for them to be a part of your project.” (Trigonis, 2014). You basically want to gain more fans out of the process not detract them away, especially potentially new fans that have stumbled across your project.

Radiohead’s ‘pay as you want’ and Thom Yorke’s bit torrent album

Back in 2007, alternative rock band Radiohead realised their album In Rainbows “the pay-what-you-want 'honesty box’. ” (NME Blog, 2012). This is slightly different to Crowdfunding as the band has already put their own money into the project, they also did it via their own website. What this did “was show that the idea of setting a single, one-size-fits-all price for an album was long overdue a rethink.” (NME Blog, 2012). It proved that things could be done differently to the way they are currently being done.  As stated previously, Thom Yorke Radiohead's frontman just last year put out a solo album for six dollars on a torrent site call ‘Bit Torrent’. “Charging the equivalent of six dollars, considerably less than even standard download charges.” (Zuel,2014). Now a band starting out might not be able to put a full album up online, however in my opinion could be done with an E.P or possibly some demos. A local north Queensland hardcore/progressive metal band by the name of Red in Tooth currently has a pay as you want on their bandcamp website: http://redintooth.bandcamp.com/releases,or alternately a choice of their E.P. This might not be on the same scale as a Radiohead or Thom York but it’s still a great starting off point and something to be admired.

Undoubtedly “piracy is the greatest threat facing the music industry worldwide today. World sales of recorded music fell by 7% in value and by 8% in units in 2002.” ( Chiou, 2005). It is somewhat important to have hardcore fans that will stick around and buy the CD or vinyl’s no matter what the cost is. However, this can’t be the only means of getting fans to purchase music from bands in the current climate. This is why something like the pay as you want ‘honesty box’ and Crowdfunding method is so important for bands and fans. As undeniably there is less and less money coming in for bands, especially bands starting out, it is important to have an alternative to the traditional ways of selling music.

Fandom and it’s impact on the industry

Fandom is defined as “fans collectively, as of a motion-picture star or a professional game or sport.” (dictionary.com, 2015).  Being a fan of an artist or band in today’s sense has change greatly from five or ten years ago. Now it’s almost like supporting a sporting team or following a religion for some people/fans. It is not uncommon for people to like more than one artist. However fandom can work both ways on one hand it can be extremely positive but things can quickly turn negative.

Take for instance the Veronica Mars crowdfunded movie that was recently made. Whilst  most fans that funded the film where pleased with the overall outcome and process their were still many that weren’t pleased. In an article written by Josh Taylor called ‘We used to be friends: the Veronica Mars Kickstarter backlash’ he states that “Many said they would never again invest in such a project, and some said they had resorted to torrenting the film just to be able to watch something they wanted in the format they desired.” (Taylor, 2014).  This shows that just because you have something that people might love and hold dear to them, doesn’t mean they will completely buy into and approve of everything the people running the crowdfunding campaign do. 

Conclusion

In Conclusion Crowdfunding is a great tool for local bands looking to make an E.P or album. Going through websites like Kickerstater and Indigogo means bands don’t have to deal with major labels. With other alternatives to crowdfunding out their like the Pay as you want ‘honestly box’ provides fans with the opportunity to get around and also not having to pay high prices for an album. This allows Artist to get the money directly and at the same time not have to over charge their fans. The impact Fandom has on the industry is more prevalent than ever before with fans playing increasingly more of a role than in years gone by.  As shown by the Kickstarter campaign for the Veronica Mars movie. Whilst we might be feeling the full effects of Crowdfunding now, this doesn’t mean we won’t in the future. Whether this would be for better or for worse  of the music industry as a whole is still up for debate.

References

Barnett, Chance. 'Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites For Fundraising'. Forbes. N.p., 2013. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.

Chiou, Jyh-Shen. 'The Antecedents Of Music Piracy Attitudes And Intentions'. Journal of Business Ethics 57.2 (2005): 161-174. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

Gsb.stanford.edu,. 'Crowdfunding 101: Pros And Cons | Stanford Graduate School Of Business'. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.

NME.COM,. 'NME Blogs | Did Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' Honesty Box Actually Damage The Music Industry?'. N.p., 2012. Web. 4 Apr. 2015.

T. Trigonis, John. 'Easy On The Perks: Quality Over Quantity In Crowdfunding An Indie Film - Independent Film Community For Fans And Filmmakers'. Independent Film Community for Fans and Filmmakers. N.p., 2014. Web. 3 Apr. 2015.

Taylor, Josh. 'We Used To Be Friends: The Veronica Mars Kickstarter Backlash | Zdnet'. ZDNet. N.p., 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

YouTube,. 'Mediapocalypse #002 - Crowd Funding For Musicians 101'. N.p., 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.