Skol303 Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Well, not actually [i]my[/i] album... hence the cunning use of quote marks... but the album in progress by artist Olivia Broadfield (who incidentally makes some nice music). I thought this was an interesting and enterprising idea. She's using a 'pledge' model - akin to Kickstarter - to raise funds for her new release, with the option of pledging £100 to contribute something musical to the finished product. Link here: http://instagram.com/p/fiYZttSnty/ Could be a useful idea for anyone considering a Kickstarter-style project of their own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Is there any income stream for the contributing musician or are you just buying a little bit of fame? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted October 24, 2013 Author Share Posted October 24, 2013 [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1382632855' post='2254770']Is there any income stream for the contributing musician or are you just buying a little bit of fame?[/quote] It's just buying a little bit of fame. I think you get a credit on the album and the option of having your photo in the sleeve art, if you wish. I can see how this would appeal to fans who'd relish the chance to get involved. Nice idea about it being a revenue stream, however. You could maybe offer a small % to anyone who pledges and provides a recording. Kind of a win-win: you get some money towards the cost of production; they get some money if it's a success. Hmmm.... interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 To be perfectly honest, I find the idea ridiculous. She's going to drive up costs through time and resources for quality control, could be a diplomatic nightmare, unless the contributing musician gets some sort of % then it's exploitative. And if she has such a level of sales and publicity that it makes paying to contribute worthwhile, then why isn't she allowing contributions for free and making the 'unique worldwide collaboration' element part of the marketing? I might well be wrong, but my instinct is that it hasn't been thought about properly. We shall see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziphoblat Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1382634510' post='2254804'] To be perfectly honest, I find the idea ridiculous. She's going to drive up costs through time and resources for quality control, could be a diplomatic nightmare, unless the contributing musician gets some sort of % then it's exploitative. And if she has such a level of sales and publicity that it makes paying to contribute worthwhile, then why isn't she allowing contributions for free and making the 'unique worldwide collaboration' element part of the marketing? I might well be wrong, but my instinct is that it hasn't been thought about properly. We shall see! [/quote] Perhaps she's doing it for genuinely musical reasons. It's an interesting concept for an album, if it were to be successful. The £100 would simply serve to filter out the folk who aren't serious. I'm skeptical about that though, it probably is some sort of poorly thought out cash cow scheme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakenewmanbass Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 I doubt the investment will be recognised in royalties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted October 24, 2013 Author Share Posted October 24, 2013 [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1382634510' post='2254804']To be perfectly honest, I find the idea ridiculous. She's going to drive up costs through time and resources for quality control, could be a diplomatic nightmare...[/quote] Good point Nige. How do you deal with people who've paid up but don't/can't contribute anything useful? To be fair I think the idea is people submit little trinkets - some hand claps, for instance, that can be easily manipulated in the mix and don't require any 'musicianship' per se. I think there's also a limit on how many people can get involved... But you're right in that there is certainly potential for snags that would slow things up and make the £100 unprofitable. In her defense Olivia is a fairly canny sort - she gets her music licensed by lots of film and TV companies (she's a regular on Grey's Anatomy for anyone who watches it), so I'm guessing she's done the maths, but it'll be interesting to see how it turns out... ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowender Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 Scam. But so close to great publicity. Imagine if an established artist invited people to send a bass track or guitar track to one of their songs and then decided who's was best and gave them an audition? THAT would be cool. This is just insulting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 [quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1382639013' post='2254914'] Scam. But so close to great publicity. Imagine if an established artist invited people to send a bass track or guitar track to one of their songs and then decided who's was best and gave them an audition? THAT would be cool. This is just insulting. [/quote] 'Scam' is totally wrong. There is no intent to defraud from what I can see. The motivations for those willing to play this game will probably be quite diverse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 I can't see a session artist or pro buying in to that. I don't I'm afraid. I dunno, maybe a plumber *would* pay to go repair Brian May's boiler??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 [quote name='dood' timestamp='1382639461' post='2254924'] I dunno, maybe a plumber *would* pay to go repair Brian May's boiler??? [/quote] Don't talk about Anita like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1382639645' post='2254930'] Don't talk about Anita like that. [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted October 24, 2013 Author Share Posted October 24, 2013 Respectfully I think some of you are being a bit hasty in your judgements I don't see how it can be interpreted as a scam. That would imply that people are being deceived. Neither is she asking for full instrumental tracks. Quite the opposite: it's clearly billed as a 'bit of fun' - a way for fans to get involved in her new album; not a way of sourcing the talents of musicians. I struggle to find anything insulting about it. Kickstarter projects involve fans paying for all sorts of tat - signed copies, items of clothing, artists artwork, Skype chats, etc. How is this any different? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 [quote name='jakenewmanbass' timestamp='1382637198' post='2254878'] I doubt the investment will be recognised in royalties [/quote] ... and that's why I'm out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 [quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1382639985' post='2254939'] Respectfully I think some of you are being a bit hasty in your judgements I don't see how it can be interpreted as a scam. That would imply that people are being deceived. Neither is she asking for full instrumental tracks. Quite the opposite: it's clearly billed as a 'bit of fun' - a way for fans to get involved in her new album; not a way of sourcing the talents of musicians. I struggle to find anything insulting about it. Kickstarter projects involve fans paying for all sorts of tat - signed copies, items of clothing, artists artwork, Skype chats, etc. How is this any different? [/quote] I reckon it's the 'monetization' of the privilege that is winding people up mate. It's like paying to have a star named after you. A novelty for people with money to burn. Perhaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mornats Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 I applaud the creativity in the approach to funding an album and getting people involved in music. It's the lack of this sort of creativity that landed the music industry on its backfoot in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted October 24, 2013 Author Share Posted October 24, 2013 [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1382640650' post='2254956']I reckon it's the 'monetization' of the privilege that is winding people up mate. It's like paying to have a star named after you. A novelty for people with money to burn. Perhaps.[/quote] Aye, very true! When I first heard about it I did think she was touting for genuine collaborators, but on reading the detail it's really just a bit of fun. If you're a die hard fan then it's probably a great reward for your £100. I can think of a few bands I'd pay that sort of money to in order to have a snippet of a particularly tuneful fart feature on their album (I contacted Bjork with this idea but she took out a restraining order. Kind of ironic, I thought). These Kickstarter/Pledge projects are all about 'creative begging' and I can understand why that gets some people's heckles up. But I just see it as being enterprising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowender Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1382639273' post='2254922'] 'Scam' is totally wrong. There is no intent to defraud from what I can see. The motivations for those willing to play this game will probably be quite diverse. [/quote] Not a scam to defraud -- but profitting on people's hopes when they may have no intention whatsoever of using anyone. Years ago in the states AMerican Idol ran a contest for a "victory song" where songwriters had to pay to enter their song and be considered. The winners turned out to be friends of Randy Jackson. What a coincidence! (And the song went nowhere. It kinda sucked). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musky Posted October 24, 2013 Share Posted October 24, 2013 An interesting idea, but no longer a novel one. This sort of thing has been touted around blogs promoting the benefits of crowd sourcing for years now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted October 24, 2013 Author Share Posted October 24, 2013 (edited) [quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1382651617' post='2255170']Not a scam to defraud -- but profitting on people's hopes when they may have no intention whatsoever of using anyone. [/quote] Again, I'm not sure where you're getting this from. Sure, if she took people's pledge money and didn't keep her side of the bargain - i.e. if she didn't incorporate their contributions into her album - then yes, she would be defrauding people. But if you take her intention as being a genuine one, then I can't see how anyone's hopes are being profitted from in a malicious way. You seem to be judging her on some potential future crime that she's yet to commit. It's a bit like the plot of Minority Report Edited October 24, 2013 by Skol303 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 What if you can't play but pay alot, do they just drop in one note or rim shot done by you and credit it ? Can't see how it will save costs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted October 25, 2013 Author Share Posted October 25, 2013 Note to self: nobody reads the small print Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakenewmanbass Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 If you work in this industry, you realise that it's rife with people willing to take advantage of peoples input when you're all slumming it in some shithole rehearsal studio, but as soon as popularity arrives and your creative input is involved in a multi million selling album, when they slap a million quid on the table to be divvied up, you will suddenly become less important than the guy who supplied the record exec with coke... So forgive me for expecting this naive little number to turn bad if things go well for this album, but I'm afraid I've heard tell of the worst excesses of greed too many times to expect fairness to reign, The deal must be sorted before anything happens. I would never pay to play on an album unless I was given a guaranteed return, via royalties or some such mechanism, at which point I'd consider myself an investor not an artistic contributor. As a bass player, I would expect pay for my days work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowlandtrees Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 Seen worse. A well known artist here in Scotland asked her fans directly to contribute cash to fund her next record. Michelle Shocked recently asked for her fans to advertise on her behalf. I see this as a wee bit cheeky but not malicious. Sales of recordings have plummeted so a return on this is unlikely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted October 25, 2013 Author Share Posted October 25, 2013 [quote name='jakenewmanbass' timestamp='1382687684' post='2255356']If you work in this industry, you realise that it's rife with people willing to take advantage of peoples input... As a bass player, I would expect pay for my days work.[/quote] With respect, you're misinterpreting what this is about. And you're not alone! Which means I probably should have been more clear in my description. She's not looking for musicians on the cheap. She's trying to fund her album by giving fans a fun way of getting involved. It's not about laying down a bassline, for instance. It's about recording a sneeze and layering it into a snare hit. That sort of thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.