Pledge Music
Last newsletter we talked a bit about Kickstarter, a fan funding platform that helps you get upfront support for your project in return for exclusive products and experiences. Since then we had the pleasure of talking with the a great company called Pledge Music.
Pledge Music is similar to Kickerstarter in that your fans help you raise the funds for your project, but there is more. Besides being exclusive to musicians, they take the fan funding platform model to another level by providing an overall hands on experience that helps you run your campaign to success. They look at themselves as a direct-to-fan service rather then a fan funding platform, and I agree.
Here is some more details from their website:
“PledgeMusic is a full-service music company that provides artists the resources they need to build successful long-term careers. Through our easy to use direct-to-fan model, we’ve fused advanced technologies and social media techniques with decades of music business expertise to create the most effective music fundraising tool in the world”
What makes PledgeMusic different?
PledgeMusic offers artists a new way to continue making music while keeping their rights. We offer fans a unique way to get involved, with exclusives they can’t find anywhere else.
- We’re founded, managed, and run by a team of music business industry pros.
- We focus solely on musicians and music-based projects.
- Our customer service crew provides total artist and fan support. We want you to succeed and we’ll work to help make it happen!
- We believe in giving back. Our funding mechanism allows artists to raise money for charity without risking their budget.
- Projects can be launched globally (not just in the US or UK) and can be run in $US, $CA, $AU, £’s, and Û’s.
- We are not a “fan funding” site. We feel that instead of asking your fans for a hand out, you should give them a personal experience they can return to again and again.
What do you charge and what do I get?
- We charge a flat 15% commission on all money raised, which covers:
- All costs (our credit card fees, hosting, mail-out costs, etc).
- Assistance building your campaign: We’ll provide tips on setting up your exclusives, making certain you’re charging and raising the appropriate amount.
- -Campaign Optimization: Once the project is live, we’ll monitor your campaign throughout its run and offer suggestions to increase productivity.
- -Access to discounts from PledgeMusic’s preferred vendors for needs such as mastering, manufacturing, touring, web services, and digital marketing.
- -Changes and additions to fan incentives, including adjustments to prices and stock levels, once the project is up and running.
- -Our customer service team: we’ll field initial questions from pledgers and coordinate declined payments, refunds, and other issues.
- -Help with the ideal timeline for your release and advice on shipping your chosen exclusives.
Platform features:
- Easy to use project set-up to help you build optimal campaigns.
- The ability to bundle multiple exclusives to maximize pledges.
- Statistics for tracking the progress of your campaign (amount raised, number of pledges, exclusives sold, etc).
- Online posting of public or pledger-only updates, featuring text, audio, or video content, direct to your pledgers and audience.
- Extensive tools to manage fulfillment (print shipping labels and guest-lists, organize completed pledges, export data in PDF, CSV).
- Automated and personal reminders pertaining to updates and pledge fulfillment.
- Social network linking and sharing: PledgeMusic is fully integrated with Facebook and Twitter to help you get the word out.
- Data Capture Widget to build your fan-base for the next campaign.
- Payments out via PayPal or bank transfer.
We feel using Pledge Music as the catalyst for your next project combined with our release management will give our clients a formula for success. If your interested in coordinating a meeting with the crew at Pledge Music and ourselves, email us at info@eternitemedia.com
