INTERVIEW : 2013-08-07 More stars embracing fan-funding websites to finance new music (by Martin Newman)
US indie legend Joseph Arthur releases 10th album and first to be 'crowd-funded' through PledgeMusic
DIRECT TO FANS: Singer Joseph Arthur outside Rough Trade Records in East London
Joseph Arthur's new album The Ballad of Boogie Christ is full of his trademark searching lyrics, upbeat and catchy, clever and deep.
Like a big label release it's slick and tightly produced, full of horns and brass and with stars like Ben Harper and Garth Hudson guesting on it.
But far from being a major label product this album has been entirely paid for by his fans.
Increasingly both independent musicians and established stars are using platforms like PledgeMusic, Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Sellaband to launch new material.
And a bit like the stigma once attached to the online dating market, using crowd-funding and direct-to-fan sites when you don't have a big label record deal is now seen as an economic byproduct of the industry rather than something that shouldn't be mentioned.
The Grammy-nominated indie songwriter Arthur, once signed to Peter Gabriel's record label, produced and released his 10th studio album via crowd-funding website PledgeMusic.
So far 1,145 of his fans have 'pledged' various amounts, from pre-release orders of the album to T-shirts, paintings and books of poetry. You can even buy his old van (a pledge of £12k) or the drumkit from one of his videos (£650).
The approach not only raised the Ohio-born, Brooklyn-ensconced songwriter enough money to put the album out and promote it, but almost doubled the required funding.
He said: "Crowd-funding is something I resisted doing for a bunch of years, something we set up a few times and just a pride thing kicked in and I didn't want to do it.
"I think what finally clicked in my mind was it was a way of getting resources but also promoting it. It was a natural independent music project fit."
He added the one-time stigma of accepting a 'handout' had been replaced by the notion of selling directly to your fan base.
"In a way this is the kind of model for an independent musician," he said.
"I enjoyed the whole thing because it spun a lot of creativity that was an unexpected benefit of it. We launched through Pledge a book of poetry an album and a DVD. But it's a lot of work and then you have to fulfill all the orders. I just finished that part of it. One person wanted a song of their life so I had to write the song and produce this song for them as well, and that was also really sort of challenging.
"I've done it all kinds of different ways: Through labels, the record before this one I put out free online. I would definitely do Pledge again or Kickstarter or one of the other ones."
Pledge, a UK-based 'direct-to-fan' platform formed four years ago by Benji Rogers and Malcolm Dunbar, has seen it's membership base grow by about 20,000 a month over the past year and includes big acts like Slash, The Libertines, Killing Joke, The Lumineers and Ben Folds Five. Even former X Factor runner-up Rhydian Roberts is currently crowd-funding a project on the site.
In a direct exchange between fans and artists it offers exclusive content and experiences that can include anything from a musician DJ'ing at your house party, to attending a rehearsal, or even going on a dinner date with the band.
Dunbar, Pledge's managing director, said: "It's always difficult incorporating a new model in the recording industry and in the first year we got a lot of push-back from artists who didn't like the idea.
"But to the fans the level of engagement is so much more exciting. You're not asking your fans for money, you're offering them much better value for money, not just a CD but an array of incentives from the artists.
"It began to grow when artists with big names started to use the platform and saw how much the fans love the experience."
Pledge sees a very healthy average spend of £35 per customer. They take 15% up front, significantly more than the 5% of rivals Kickstarter, but offer support in offices around the world, which includes organising campaigns for the projects.
"We launch four to five projects every day," added Dunbar. "And we are the main vertical market crowd-funder of pure music. The others encompass different genres."
The market-leading US-based Kickstarter has attracted funding of close to £500million in four years and launched over 100,000 projects.
Since successfully releasing the 12-track album in the States, where it garnered glowing reviews, Arthur has been picked up by his former record label Real World, which will add more material and package The Ballad of Boogie Christ as a 24-track double album in the UK, due for release next month.
"I sort of like the state of the art, universe, music world right now," said Arthur. "I think it's very open. It's complicated and difficult but I think it's always been complicated and difficult.
"I think these days if you're an artist and you put something out and no one really responds to it, you can keep going which is huge. I think that's the most important thing for an artist. It isn't to get recognition but to be able to keep going."
www.pledgemusic.com/artists/josepharthur
martin.newman@mirror.co.uk
He said: "Crowd-funding is something I resisted doing for a bunch of years, something we set up a few times and just a pride thing kicked in and I didn't want to do it.
"I think what finally clicked in my mind was it was a way of getting resources but also promoting it. It was a natural independent music project fit."
He added the one-time stigma of accepting a 'handout' had been replaced by the notion of selling directly to your fan base.
"In a way this is the kind of model for an independent musician," he said.
"I enjoyed the whole thing because it spun a lot of creativity that was an unexpected benefit of it. We launched through Pledge a book of poetry an album and a DVD. But it's a lot of work and then you have to fulfill all the orders. I just finished that part of it. One person wanted a song of their life so I had to write the song and produce this song for them as well, and that was also really sort of challenging.
"I've done it all kinds of different ways: Through labels, the record before this one I put out free online. I would definitely do Pledge again or Kickstarter or one of the other ones."
Pledge, a UK-based 'direct-to-fan' platform formed four years ago by Benji Rogers and Malcolm Dunbar, has seen it's membership base grow by about 20,000 a month over the past year and includes big acts like Slash, The Libertines, Killing Joke, The Lumineers and Ben Folds Five. Even former X Factor runner-up Rhydian Roberts is currently crowd-funding a project on the site.
In a direct exchange between fans and artists it offers exclusive content and experiences that can include anything from a musician DJ'ing at your house party, to attending a rehearsal, or even going on a dinner date with the band.
Dunbar, Pledge's managing director, said: "It's always difficult incorporating a new model in the recording industry and in the first year we got a lot of push-back from artists who didn't like the idea.
"But to the fans the level of engagement is so much more exciting. You're not asking your fans for money, you're offering them much better value for money, not just a CD but an array of incentives from the artists.
"It began to grow when artists with big names started to use the platform and saw how much the fans love the experience."
Pledge sees a very healthy average spend of £35 per customer. They take 15% up front, significantly more than the 5% of rivals Kickstarter, but offer support in offices around the world, which includes organising campaigns for the projects.
"We launch four to five projects every day," added Dunbar. "And we are the main vertical market crowd-funder of pure music. The others encompass different genres."
The market-leading US-based Kickstarter has attracted funding of close to £500million in four years and launched over 100,000 projects.
Since successfully releasing the 12-track album in the States, where it garnered glowing reviews, Arthur has been picked up by his former record label Real World, which will add more material and package The Ballad of Boogie Christ as a 24-track double album in the UK, due for release next month.
"I sort of like the state of the art, universe, music world right now," said Arthur. "I think it's very open. It's complicated and difficult but I think it's always been complicated and difficult.
"I think these days if you're an artist and you put something out and no one really responds to it, you can keep going which is huge. I think that's the most important thing for an artist. It isn't to get recognition but to be able to keep going."
www.pledgemusic.com/artists/josepharthur
martin.newman@mirror.co.uk
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