Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kyla Fairchild on July 6, 2011 at 9:37am

Thanks for starting this thread!  It'll be great to have a spot for people to post their Kickstarter's all in one place.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Weber on July 12, 2011 at 3:57am

I recently ran a Kickstarter campaign to raise completion funds for my documentary, "Troubadour Blues," which thanks to the kindness of more than 160 supporters will be released on DVD this fall.

 

Although I had a great experience and exceeded my goal, I found it was a lot more work than I had expected. People who fundraise professionally say that my response rate was quite good -- I sent out about 1,600 individual e-mails and Facebook messages, as well as daily Twitter posts and frequent updates on my website and Facebook fan page, for a rate of response of about 10%.

 

I got some interesting responses. A band in Pittsburgh, the SPUDS, played a gig and gave me the door money. A friend in Washington, D.C., put a guitar on eBay with a note that the proceeds would support my Kickstarter appeal. So, encourage your friends to be creative in their support for your efforts.

 

Avoid the "charity" appeal at all costs. Emphasize to people that you're trying to enlist them into something fun, creative, off-the-wall, unusual. Public broadcasting has burned us all out on the "eat your vegetables" approach to fundraising -- "support public broadcasting because it's good for you". What worked for me was a lot of communication, one-on-one, with a lot of people over an intense 30-day fund drive.

 

Oh, and one drawback of Kickstarter is that Amazon Payments is the exclusive vehicle for handling pledges. A lot of people are leery of giving out credit card information online. For those people, I suggested they buy a prepaid Visa gift card and use it for their pledge. And, my cousins in Germany, who have excellent credit, were unable to make a pledge because a glitch in the system makes it impossible for some non-U.S. cardholders to make donations. To their credit, though, the people at Kickstarter were very up-front and helpful about trying to work out these difficulties.

 

I'm interested in reading what experiences other people have had / are having with Kickstarter.

 

Cheers

Tom

http://www.troubadour-blues.com

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Permalink Reply by Michael Bialas on July 12, 2011 at 1:55pm

I'm working on an article about indie singer-songwriter Shannon McNally, which I'll post here in the next few days. She had a very successful campaign through Kickstarter for her latest release, Western Ballad. Some details are available here, and I plan to have more from Shannon, who's currently on tour.

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Permalink Reply by Molly Trull on July 14, 2011 at 1:49pm

Ooo I opened for Shannon McNally once!  She is so great.  Please do share the article when you get a chance, and I'd love to help her out donating to her Kickstarter, even though she stole my capo (haha.. I guess technically I let her borrow it, so maybe I'll get it back next time she's in town.. maybe not).

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Permalink Reply by Michael Bialas on July 19, 2011 at 9:45am

Just wanted to let all of you know that the Shannon McNally article in which she discusses Kickstarter has been posted at No Depression. Thanks for checking it out.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh T. on July 21, 2011 at 2:51pm

You might be interested in the part of the interview where she is asked whether she has any advice for people starting out trying to make a living in music. Her answer: "Yes. Never buy equipment."

(just kidding)

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Permalink Reply by Molly Trull on July 21, 2011 at 3:32pm

That's actually hilarious and brightened my quite shittay day!  Thank you!  Yeah, I totally think she should mention me in her next album.. thank me for contributing my capo to her album.  I mean, that IS technically a contribution, and it was a nice, silver capo!  Unless she lost that one too... I lose capos ALL the time it's ridiculous.

 

And I will check out the article definitely.  I have heard such great things about kickstarter... I've considered it but I think I'd have to build a bigger fanbase first, but I don't know?  Maybe if I posted samples of the album and people liked it enough?  I'll have to get some cujones (I apologize if I spelled this Spanish word wrong by the way).

 

Oh and on a kickstarter sidenote, someone who was raving about the site to me sent me a link to Julia Nunes' (youtube star... opened for Ben Folds and Ben Kweller... lots of youtube fans... ringing any bells here?)... She had a goal of 15,000 and ended up raising 78,000 bucks!  WOW.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Edwards on July 30, 2011 at 2:19pm

Ha. Yeah, damn capos tend to walk off like socks. I think I lost three during the making of my album. Speaking of which, I just got approved for a Kickstarter for a physical release of my album on CD and vinyl. I'm still waiting to create it, as my friend who is supposed to shoot the video for me has been busy with other things as of late. I was all set to do the first pressing of my album, and my house was broken into and the money stolen :( . I wound up releasing the record digitally, where it's actually doing quite well, but I still long for physical product to sell at shows, and well, it's just nice to have your own bard-coded little piece of plastic and cardboard for show and tell...and hopefully hear, for curious ears. For anyone curious as to my new record, here's the iTunes link:

http://itunes.apple.com/album/the-winter-garden/id450188517?l=sv&am... and some stuff can be heard and downloaded here: www.chrismedwards.com . Best of luck to everyone trying to get albums done or pressed...it'll be worth every hard-earned penny and every anxious bead of sweat, but it is a long, hard road.

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Permalink Reply by joe muszynski on September 3, 2011 at 10:39am

We are currently running a Kickstarter campaign to get funds to finish a feature length documentary on a hard-working Illinois folksinger, Chicago Farmer.

 

The film tells a mythic tale of the modern folksinger, reviving the travels that used to be so common back when the economy was pretty much like today’s: not so good. Chicago Farmer straddles the State of Illinois, hailing from the small town of Delavan, IL and intimately familiar with the sprawl of Chicago. He finds the differences to be minimal, though the attractions quite different. With concert footage, as well as scenes from Delavan, Chicago and all points in between (his daily travel between gigs has made him say he hails from “Backenforth, IL”), the film explores the pulse of America – and finds that everyone’s heart beats basically the same.

 

Please check it out if you're interested. Kickstarter link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/161417471/chicago-farmer-docume...

Or check out the film preview and various videos at: http://www.youtube.com/user/chicagofarmerdoc?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/u...

Here is CF's website: http://www.chicagofarmer.com/

Would love to hear any comments, and get any assistance, from the ND community. 

Tom, the Amazon payments thing is something they should work out. The pledge I put on the film was for someone who gave me a check because they had no idea what was going on when Amazon popped up!

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Permalink Reply by James Low on September 22, 2011 at 9:26am

I just launched a Kickstarter fundraiser today!  We are also premiering our new video at our Kickstarter page!  Watch our new video and advance purchase the new album "Whiskey Farmer" at The James Low Western Front on Kickstarter!

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Permalink Reply by Erica Farrel on September 25, 2011 at 1:02pm

Hi,

My name is Erica Farrel and have started a kickstarter to help fund and distribute my short animated film Samsara. It is a traditionally hand drawn/painted animation, about a man who kills a fly that consequently becomes his own child's soul. Samsara extends beyond any one individual, and dives into a metaphor of every beings eternal cycle of creation, life, death, and the worlds beyond conception. This project is not only hand drawn but hand painted (note: that most animations today are colored on the computer). By hand it is a much more rigorous process, which will produce a unique and beautiful short animation, different from most, both in process, aesthetic, and concept. From it's humble beginnings as story boards, into its creation as drawings, into paintings, into scans, and into edits, it has developed into more then I could have hoped for. I need your guy's help to complete this beautiful and inspiring piece, to which I hope to share with the as many people as possible!

 

Check it out, donate, or spread it around. I appreciate any help!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ericafarrel/samsara

 

 

Best Erica Farrel

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Permalink Reply by Jay Newman on October 7, 2011 at 9:20pm

Yes!  So glad to come across this, even if a little late.  Our campaign only has 5 days left as of this posting.   We believe we'll reach our goal, so we'll actually be going down to record in 3 days.   We will be going to Rolling Fork, Mississippi (hometown of Muddy Waters) to record in a 100 year old church sanctuary.  Of course, it will be all analog recording on tape.  We want to recapture that old sound.  

So check it out here- thanks in advance! http://www.indiegogo.com/back-to-the-delta

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