- Crowdfunding is a more viable alternative to gaining internet popularity from Youtube
- It creates connections with dedicated fans since it targets an interested audience
- The funding has a global scope for and could potentially receive media coverage
Originally artists had to rely solely on media companies and record deals to gain popularity. Only those industries had the capital and interest in spreading products and developing a fan base. The past few decades and the introduction of an online audience have changed the process significantly. All that is needed now is an internet connection and anyone can reach the masses using sites such as Youtube. However, building an online fan base takes a bit more work,
While discovery and fan base development is possible through just the usage of online videos, it is fairly difficult. 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute to Youtube alone. Your video would have to gain attention in the deluge of other user generated content. Going viral and attracting a niche audience could take months or even years of effort.
The Solution Is Crowdfunding
This is why many artists have opted for using crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and SellaBand. The chance of getting discovered and "going viral" is also relatively low on these sites with one study estimating only 34 of 4,712 artists on SellaBand receiving enough capital to market their albums. However, it is still more likely than Youtube, because you are targeting an audience that is actively looking to invest in your content.
In most crowdfunding platforms, the artist is attempting to raise money in order to achieve a goal. The goal must be clearly defined and easily understandable for the audience. Therefore "producing an album" would be a good example, but "rediscovering musical talent" would not. To achieve this goal, a certain amount of money must be raised from donations and investments. This research study found that fund raising for crowdfunding projects is best done with a reasonable, low goal. Although it means fewer investors are required, it will make management much simpler.
Once you've chosen a site and a goal, you will have to propose a plan to your audience. Before they invest, the audience needs a clear idea of what is being marketed to them. In the case of Kickstarter, this plan proposal is usually in the form of a video. This video gives some background about the artist and a sample of their music.
In addition to the video, most artists will also write a succinct bio and description of their work. The short description can give a history of the author, information on his or her family, and a list of challenges that the project faces. To make the section more appealing, they may add endorsements, updates, and graphics as well.
Asking for Donations Is Not Enough
The sample music and touching back story are significant motivation for investment, but in nearly every case it will not be enough. This is why rewards are implemented. For SellaBand, the rewards are the album and a portion of its profits. Kickstarter has a more open and diverse system of rewards. Donations can be split into tiers based on volume. Then the rewards can be decided at the artist's discretion. Common high tier rewards include private concerts, signed souvenirs, and personal meetings.
This ensures that the people investing in you are also emotionally invested in your work. The fans you gain will be dedicated and willing to pay money to see you succeed. Unfortunately, the fans, while enthusiastic, will still be very low in number. To actually develop a following, you will have to expand your sphere of influence.
Building a Social Media Empire
The next step to building a fan base and continuing your funding would be through social media. Up until now you should have been promoting your work on all of your media outlets; however, it is usually not enough. Encouraging your investors to share by word of mouth will speed up the process and guarantee more man power. An even more effective method would be through media coverage.
By involving a local newspaper, radio station, or television station, you can attract fans from different mediums.They can also spread information by word of mouth, increasing your sphere of influence. Because nearly everyone is connected to the internet these days, fans you gain from other mediums can be easily converted to online fans as well.
Through a combination of crowdfunding and social media, it is possible for an artist to develop an online following. Crowdfunding will provide the necessary income for production of more material. The connection to dedicated fans willing to invest in your work creates a very strong fan base. An audience like that can easily be encouraged to spread your work through social media and by word of mouth. With your work dispersed all over the world, people will begin to take notice. Eventually, like-minded people will be attracted to what you produce and you will have developed a fairly large fan base.
This ePortfolio does begin with an explanatory headline, however, when I first read the headline I did not feel like I learned a new nugget of information by simply reading just the headline. If the headline was even more explanatory, then the writer would probably not need the bulleted information given at the beginning of the post; even if the headline were to remain the same the writer should not have included so much substance prior to adding a picture. One aspect of the ePortfolio that is done well in this post is it's organization; dispersed throughout the post are a few subtitles, which could also be a little more explanatory so that the reader could get the gist of the article by reading just those, as well as several visual aids to keep the reader interested. The subtitles are perhaps not as well done as they could be, because they are being used to summarize the writer's points more so than to summarize evidence from articles. The writer seems to only refer to the research study once, and it is only briefly mentioned at the start of the post. The writer does do a good job at mentioning evidence that supports the research, however they do not supply the reader with enough links to support said evidence, or they may not have referred to the links enough.
ReplyDeleteThe post relates to Chapter 2, more specifically, it relates to the idea of a "concentration of media ownership." The chapter explains that there are fewer owners of media, resulting in less diversity of media. The main point of this post is that due to Crowdfunding an artist no longer has to rely as heavily on a major company (a.k.a. a "media owner"), but instead they are able to use Crowdfunding websites to gain audience interest and hopefully raise money.
Overall, the post was well done, although there are a few things that I would add. For example, right at the beginning of the post Crowdfunding should have been better explained or defined, a short explanation is given but it does not explain the concept very well. The writer of the post could also have embedded a link in the word "Crowdfunding" that better explains the idea, as the link below does.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/11/27/what-is-crowdfunding-and-how-does-it-benefit-the-economy/