The world of crowd funding is today the launch pad for the pre-release of A.M.E.N., My debut album. Read the impact that crowd funding have on the music scene.
The internet has changed the music industry in many ways. But while most would point to digital downloads and streaming as the developments with the biggest impact, the effects of crowdfunding should never be overlooked.
This month saw the launch of Vinylised, a website that allows fans to pool their cash to fund the vinyl releases of their favourite digital-only tracks. The website has already raised nearly half of the funds to cover the release of INP001 — Tek Unlimited’s ‘Destruction/Primal Drums’.
This is just one of the many projects musicians and fans have launched together in the age of crowdfunding, but the practice’s true impact is far wider-ranging.
Artists are using crowdfunding to defy conventions
De La Soul is one of the most iconic Hip Hop groups of all time. Their 1989 debut Three Feet High and Rising helped usher in the uplifting, Afrocentric music of the Native Tongues movement that inspired the likes of A Tribe Called Quest; and their follow-ups Stakes Is High and De La Soul Is Dead established them as an important musical force.
But unfortunately for them, and for young Hip Hop fans hoping to experience their music, none of these albums are currently available on streaming services. The group struggled with record labels to remedy the situation, but sample clearance issues meant their music stayed offline.
With low funds and a distaste for larger record labels, De La Soul turned to Kickstarter to fund their next album — for which they would record all original music and take samples from that rather than from old songs licensed under other record labels.
The project launched in early 2015, and it reached its $110,000 goal in less than an hour. The eventual grand total was $600,874. De La Soul hit the studio, and the result was the highly acclaimed and the Anonymous Nobody… which featured production from the group themselves and Pete Rock among others.
De La Soul are not alone in turning to crowdfunding to support the recording and release of an album. Veteran Punk rocker Keith Levene raised £7,400 to release what he sees as the “real” version of his group PiL’s fourth album. R&B legends TLC raised $430,255 to make their first album in over a decade, due out this summer. There have been crowdfunded albums nominated for Grammys. Artists like Amanda Palmer have based their whole careers around crowd funding. Read Full Article
