The Internet has been a catalyst for the democratization of creativity in art. The low-cost, high-reach communication tools it affords its users have allowed creators…
Musicians, artists, and music business entrepreneurs need cash to start a project and nurture it to fruition. They are hardly unique in this respect,…
Over the last fifteen years, since the advent of the worldwide web, there has been a revolution in the world of finance. More money is…
In 1997, the British band Marillon was able to raise $60,000 to finance their US tour through an Internet campaign. Since then, funding music projects…
Crowdfunding is quickly becoming a useful alternative for musicians looking to pay for the production and distribution of their albums and concert tours. As will…
Amanda Palmer, a punk cabaret singer and one of the most productive users of social media today, has set a new record for the highest…
Kickstarter, a for-profit company that started in April 2009, broke into the “crowdfunding” market with a new take on financing projects in music, film, art,…
Lately, it seems that phrases like “direct-to-fan” and “fan funding” have been echoing off the walls. In the last few years, artists like Trent Reznor and Radiohead have pioneered a new kind of marketing using the Internet’s vast power of communication to make more personal connections with their fans. In many cases, this has yielded some overwhelmingly positive results –Reznor scored an in-pocket $750,000 in just a few days selling a limited-edition box set to fans in 2008.