Kickstarter and Nataly Dawn’s Musical Success

In 2008, Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn formed Pomplamoose, an indie music duo that began recording and posting videos of cover songs on Youtube. After a while these covers became so widely viewed that the two began selling their songs and in 2009 they sold over 100,000 songs online.

Recently Nataly Dawn posted a Kickstarter project to fund her first solo album. She asked for $20,000, but with overwhelming support for her project she earned over $104,000 from 2,315 supporters.

Dawn’s incredible growth as an independent artist is based almost entirely on her internet success. Her project is one exceptional example of the ways in which Kickstarter can change the way we think of indie artists gaining financial backing for their work.

Kickstarter and the Independent Musician

Kickstarter.com, a website for funding creative projects (music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing, etc.) based on donations, launched in April 2009 and has significantly impacted the way independent musicians can fund their projects with or without the support of a record label.

The path of a Kickstarter project for an indie musician (or group) would go something like this: the musician submits an application to Kickstarter describing their project (how much money they need to raise at a minimum, what the money raised would be used for, when the money will be raised by, and usually the ways in which donors will be rewarded/incentivized for their contribution), Kickstarter approves the project, and then donors have until the set deadline to contribute the minimum amount of money to the project or else the musician gets none of the contributions. Musicians typically promote their Kickstarter projects to their fans and/or hope that Kickstarter users browsing the site come across the project and feel compelled to donate.

Kickstarter has the potential to make independent artists independent even of the need for the support of a record label. This week, pop-rock band Sparks the Rescue was dropped from their indie label, Fearless Records. Despite that the band was able to raise more than the $8,000 that they asked for to fund their next album and the purchase of a tour van.

Fortunately for Sparks, they had their entire fan base established over several years under Fearless Records behind them. Even so, Kickstarter presents the perfect platform for independent musicians to raise money without the financial backing of a record label. The biggest factor in any of these projects’ success is really the willingness of their fans.

• Browse Kickstarter music projects.

The Indie Musician and the “Indie” Photographer

A couple of months ago I did a post on texting at shows which featured a couple of photos I took for this blog. I wasn’t the only one in the crowd with a DSLR though. In fact, at nearly every small venue I’m at seeing an indie or unsigned band there are several young adults (or sometimes even teenagers) with expensive cameras and massive flashes ready to photograph the entire show. These photos almost always show up on Flickr, Tumblr, and sometimes even on the bands’ Facebook pages, websites, or merch.

Most of these “indie” photographers are not professionals nor are they being paid for their work (although sometimes they get free admission and a photo pass if they’ve coordinated with one of the bands playing the show beforehand). They’re doing it because they like photographing live music.

Photographers that are happy to work for free are great for small bands. If the photographer is good at what they do, the bands get free photos of themselves floating around the internet that make them look good. For a small price, some even use those photos for their own press or merch designs.

But what about the photographers? There’s a seemingly endless stream of kids willing to shoot for free so what if these amateurs want to make the leap in to the professional world of live music photography? That’s going to be a tougher sell when musicians can get what they’re looking for without having to pay.

One Time at Bandcamp.com

Once upon a time, bands used Myspace Music as their main online presence for sharing photos, tour dates, and, most importantly, streams of their music. After hearing about a new band, fans would often go straight to myspace.com/whatever-the-name to figure out what that band was all about. And then Myspace died.

So what are bands doing now?

Most bands and musicians have since moved themselves to Facebook because that’s what fans are actually using, but Facebook denies artists much of the aesthetic or universal organization that Myspace Music had down.

Another site has stepped up potentially picking up where Myspace Music left off and they might just have the right idea.

Bandcamp.com is a platform for artists to promote themselves and sell their music and merch. Musicians can stream their music and display lyrics and artwork while fans can easily purchase a band’s music in whatever format they desire. Bandcamp takes 15% of sales until an artist reaches over $5,000 in sales and the percentage drops to 10%. The site also keeps track of information that can be useful for artists such as the number of song plans (total and partial) and places where their music has been embedded.

Awake! Awake!'s Bandcamp site.

The interface for Bandcamp is clean and consistent for every band which makes navigation easy. There are places for external links and contact information.

The site, however, lacks some of the information that can easily be found on a band’s Myspace or Facebook page. Tour dates, for example, could be integrated into the Bandcamp page format and make these microsites a more valuable resource for artist information. A band blog might be useful or a place where artists could post photos.

Bandcamp is most widely used by independent artists because the site makes selling music and merch directly to fans simple. Fans can, in turn, discover new artists through the browse feature and easily support musicians that they like without worrying that most of a band’s revenue will end up in the pockets of a record label.

If the site wants to become the resource that Myspace Music used to be, Bandcamp could become the go-to source for bands and fans with a few tweaks.

• Check out Bandcamp.com.

Ugh, Finals and Yay, AbsolutePunk

On AbsolutePunk.net, tons of music fans/students have started a thread complaining about their finals this week which is unsurprising because the site is the perfect place for fans to talk about what they’re listening to or anything else that might be on their mind.

AbsolutePunk is an excellent online news source for alternative music, but also a thriving online community of fans, industry people, and musicians alike. The site has been around since 2000 and features many articles and reviews as well as message boards for people to talk about anything from sports to politics to, of course, music. AbsolutePunk has also sponsored numerous tours and earned a place among the most influential online music resources with owner and founder Jason Tate being called one of the most important figures in the online music world.

So if you need one more thing to facilitate your procrastination, head over to the message board to find some new music, read reviews, or just do some complaining.

• Check out AbsolutePunk.net.

Music and Politics: Rick Perry’s Controversial Ad

from Youtube.com

In music news this week, the Harvard Political Review pointed out a serious flaw in Rick Perry’s presidential campaign ad noted for controversial statements on the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell:” the ad features music inspired by openly gay composer Aaron Copland (gay and a Communist, actually).

Perry says, “There’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.”

Music plays an important role in our culture. Essentially every movie, commercial, and television show utilizes music in some way reinforcing whatever message the creators are trying to impress upon the audience.

In Perry’s case, the music undermines his point completely: gay people are a part of American life whether he likes it not, be that be in military or music composition. Denying gay people the right to participate in American life is refusing citizens the very freedom that Perry claims to be a proponent of in this ad.

Nice try, Perry.

• Watch Perry’s ad (or flag it for hate speech based on sexual orientation).
• Learn about composer Aaron Copland.

MegaUpload Endorsed by Mainstream Arists

On Friday, MegaUpload.com released a song and music video featuring mainstream artists P Diddy, Alicia Keys, Will.i.am, Snoop Dogg, Chris Brown, Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, and Kim Kardashian (among others) promoting the upload/download site.

Both the MPAA and the RIAA have called MegaUpload rogue because copyrighted media is constantly being filtered through the foreign site by users.

Shortly after the video was released, #megaupload began trending on Twitter. As people flocked to YouTube to view the music video, Universal Music quickly had the video blocked on copyright grounds.

Image from TorrentFreak.com

According to an interview on TorrentFreak.com, the founder of MegaUpload, Kim Dotcom, claims that Universal had the video blocked illegally because MegaUpload owns the rights to everything in the video. Dotcom believes that Universal had the video blocked to end MegaUpload’s successful media campaign.

Opponents of recently proposed Internet Blacklist Bills like SOPA and PIPA that place even more power in the hands of corporations like Universal Music say that abuses like this are exactly why lawmakers must reject this type of legislation.

This situation demonstrates the rising tension between copyright owners and sites like MegaUpload as the United States government contemplates greater restrictions on the Internet, but also raises more questions. If mainstream artists can be silenced for participating in a campaign that supports a freer Internet, what possible power can independent artists have? What does it mean that mainstream artists are supporting a filesharing site that is potentially diminishing their revenue? Do sites like MegaUpload need more legal restriction than they already have?

Whatever the answers to these questions might be, one thing is clear: the way that we share media online is being scrutinized not only by the American government, but also by powerful corporations like Universal Music that have the power to push for greater restrictions on the Internet in significant and, I think, troublingly deceptive ways. For artists and fans alike, now is certainly not a time to stop paying attention.

• Read TorrentFreak.com’s interview with MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom.
• See the Mega Song music video.
• Watch What is Protect IP/SOPA?

Anthony Green’s Beautiful December

In anticipation of his upcoming album Beautiful Things, singer/songwriter Anthony Green created his own version of the 25 Days of Christmas called “25 Days of Beautiful Things.” The calendar features a countdown to Christmas where Green releases something new related to the album each day.

From AnthonyGreensChildren.com

Thus far, Green has released a behind-the-scenes video from a music video shoot for the album, several videos discussing the meaning behind upcoming songs, an exclusive photo of Green, an acoustic performance of a new song, a merch giveaway, and a free MP3 download.

The 25 Days of Beautiful Things is a clever way of interacting with fans in anticipation of the Beautiful Things album release. With independent artists releasing new material so often in an effort to keep fans interested in and satisfied with their work, this calendar certainly addresses his fans’ thirst for fresh Green media while maintaining excitement for his second solo album.

• Check out Anthony Green’s Beautiful December.

NOFX to Write Song for Occupy Protestors

On Sunday, November 27th, popular punk rock band NOFX played a show at the Occupy LA rally in light of the announcement that protestors would be evicted from their downtown encampment at midnight the following morning.

photo by Colin Young-Wolff courtesy of LA Weekly.

NOFX is reportedly back in the studio recording several new songs, one of which is said to be for the protestors arrested later that week for refusing to leave the Occupy LA protest site.

Although the band formed in 1983 and has been signed to several indie labels, they are currently signed to Fat Wreck Chords, an independent label started by NOFX’s lead singer and bassist, Fat Mike. NOFX is known for being politically outspoken so their appearance at Occupy LA was unsurprising as is the announcement of their plans for a song in support of the arrested protestors.

It seems like bands on smaller labels (particularly labels founded by one of the band members) have more freedom to take strong political stances and incorporate activism into their music. Punk certainly has a history of challenging social norms and taking on issues that many mainstream bands avoid confronting for fear of alienating their fan base.

NOFX’s appearance at Occupy LA and their support of this issue shows that the band remains relevant in using their music to take a stand and that politics still have a place in the punk rock.

Buying Tickets to the Vans Warped Tour…in November?

Vans Warped Tour, a popular summer music festival, announced pre-sales for the 2012 tour this November, over six months before any shows will take place.

The tickets are being sold as holiday pack in which $45 buys a general admission ticket with “jump in line” privileges, a pair of Warped Tour socks, and a Warped Tour holiday card. Presumably this pre-sale package is an effort to raise ticket sales and, of course, make more money.

After a bit of Googling, I found an article in the New York Times from 2010 where the creator of Warped Tour, Kevin Lyman, is quoted saying, “How are we going to get people to buy tickets ahead of time next year when there’s so much deep discounting going on right now? At the venues they’re hawking $10, $20 tickets, and you see the kids saying, ‘Wait, I paid $40 for that ticket.’”

Apparently Lyman’s solution to declining ticket sales is to add socks and a card.

Would reducing the ticket price altogether be a more effective solution? Between admission, food and water, and merch purchases, attending the Vans Warped Tour in what is usually sweltering heat can be a costly, sweat-filled pain in the ass for many of the kids attending the tour dates. Of course $20 tickets from the scalpers who are always outside of these venues on the dates for this tour are going to be attractive. Perhaps simply lowering the price of general admission is the best solution to raising the number of ticket sales and pleasing fans, bands, and promoters.

That or more socks.