How to Crowdfund your Music in 2024

Our guide will explain how you can crowdfund your next album and outline the many benefits and potential challenges that you may encounter along the way. Let’s get started.

How to crowdfund your next album

Set clear goals

If you're in a band looking to start producing and releasing an album, you’ll need to sit down and look at the numbers; your fan base, the venue size etc. Write a list of what the most important costs are and what are the things you can really do yourself.

Will you record your own vocals at home? Learn how to mix your own tracks? Carry out your own promo? Doing as many tasks as you can by yourself will really reduce the cost of the project and can help create a more realistic and appealing campaign.

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Timing is key

Look around at what music events are happening during your campaign. What other gigs are at a similar time and the popularity of these other musicians? Other gigs can really affect the support you receive for a campaign as potential supporters may be interested in buying tickets to a well-established band playing on the same night.

Being able to promote your music in an appropriate time frame, where there may not be many big names touring or even bands attempting to achieve similar goals as your band is crucial for your campaign being a success. The more opportunities you get to promote yourself the better.

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Create a campaign video

Creating an epic campaign video is the best tool for promoting your campaign to your fans and potential supporters. However, it can get boring if you try to explain the entire campaign from start to finish, as well as explaining why you need funding.

Sometimes it’s better to leave the finer details out and focus on what fans need to do and what the end result of the campaign will be. Often these factors are what makes a campaign more effective as it is streamlined and easy to remember. Make the video short and easy to understand, 2 -3 mins max. Check out Amaru Tribe's effort below.

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Benefits of crowdfunding your music project

Crowdfunding involves raising money from a large number of people, typically through online platforms, to fund your project - in this case, your music. You’ll probably have come across different crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe and Kickstarter which many musicians use to generate financial support. 

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It’ll come as no surprise that crowdfunding your musical projects offers many benefits to struggling artists and can really help give them a helping hand at the early stages of their career. Here are some of the key advantages that crowdfunding can offer.

Boosting your budget

Probably the biggest benefit of crowdfunding support is that it allows you to generate more money for music from outside of your own pockets. Independent musicians who don’t have the financial backing of a major record label powerhouse are able to devote more time and energy into creating music of the same level of that as a signed artist. 

On top of this, you’ll also develop far stronger connections with your fans as they are even more invested in your music career. This’ll help you build up a stronger and more meaningful music fanbase, so make sure to maintain these strong relationships with your supporters.

You can also consider applying for music funding and grants to boost your music budget further.

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Increased exposure

Crowdfunding platforms can also help increase exposure for your music. When you post your campaign on a crowdfunding site, you'll gain extra visibility and reach a broader audience. 

Although most of your donations will probably come from existing fans of your music through your social media campaigns and promotion, other contributors can easily stumble across your cause and get involved too. If your story and vision is well presented then you can definitely receive more support than initially planned for.

Feedback from your fans

Crowdfunding your music allows you a unique opportunity to receive feedback from your fans before releasing your finished project. As you’re not tied into a record label deal and sworn to strict secrecy, you can share demos with your fans and stakeholders to gather thoughts around your drafted tunes. 

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Feedback can help you tweak and refine your art and create a final product that resonates with your audience, setting your music up for success.

Challenges of crowdfunding

Although there are some awesome benefits associated with crowdfunding your music, there are, as with all good things, some not so ideal factors to also consider. One of which being high competition between petitioners. 

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Strong competition 

Crowdfunding platforms are often highly competitive, with numerous similar projects competing for funding at any given time. 

To stand the best chance of standing out, your campaign needs to be expertly crafted with a compelling story based around why you deserve to receive financial backing. You need to make sure that your need for this money resonates with your audience and you should outline what you plan to do with the funds in detail. 

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Think of this as a business pitch. Why should someone invest in you and what will they see in return? Of course this isn’t quite the same as Dragon’s Den, and contributors aren’t expecting a financial return on their investment - but the principle remains the same. 

Time-consuming

Despite the financial benefits crowdfunding can offer, this doesn't come without a price. Crowdfunding requires a significant amount of your time to effectively create and manage your campaigns. 

You need to build out a detailed plan, produce engaging content, and actively promote your campaign on social media to reach your funding goals.

When successful, crowdfunding can be a really powerful tool for independent musicians to finance their music projects - but it doesn’t come without its challenges. 

The key to crowdfunding success is to create a compelling campaign that resonates with your audience, setting realistic expectations, and delivering on your promises. Crowdfunding requires a lot of planning, time, and effort, but with the right attitude and approach, this strategy can help you achieve your music goals and build a loyal music fanbase.

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