Gully's Rant: Crowdfunding and Music
I have always been a person who thinks if I pay for something I get something in return that is worth it. A simple transaction no mess no fuss.
There is a recent trend in bands of late for sourcing money for albums through crowdfunding or tours etc. Let me first say if done correctly then I’m all for it. You get something special for helping a band out and have that little bit of extra special merch or signed gear or even a chat with the band on skype or meeting them in person for something which could be a once in a lifetime experience.
You do it like that I’m perfectly fine with it.
If you are Megadeth and you ask for £1700 to sit in the studio or money for used bass strings you are clearly taking the piss. We all love Megadave because what you see is what you get and let’s be honest he does not hold back himself so why should he not be held to account when he is clearly taking advantage of his fan base.
This happened just before the last album dystopia to help them put it together. The first thing I have issue with is that most of the members of the band have made a substantial amount of money of the years and rightly so for the tours and music they have put out so why do they need to stick their hand out at all?
I don’t think they do.
This is exploiting people at the top end of the scale.
This isn’t just the big bands doing it there seems to be trend of big and small bands all over the world asking for help to produce albums some with really great things you can get if you help donate and be part of the project and I support that and encourage bands to get the help they need but not to take the piss.
On to supporting tours with crowdfunding this I don’t like this at all you can’t put together a tour which will make enough to cover your expenses then you need work harder and smarter to make it work.
One band who is due to be supporting Mushroomhead has just put up a crowdfunding page for people to donate for gas money for the tour. If you are not getting paid enough to cover your fuel to get to the gigs maybe it’s not a good idea to go on the tour in the first place rather than stick your hand out and hope people will help. It’s great that you offering merch with the money donated but maybe you should be asking the promoters for a fair amount to cover you for daily expenses or work hard sell the merch at the gigs like most bands try and do. It might be great exposure but it shows lack of proper planning.
I recently heard about a band called Ne Obliviscaris who is on a crowdfunding site getting a monthly wage paid for by the donators regardless of if they put music out or are on tour or if they simply sitting there scratching their nuts and drinking beer. They earlier raised $86132 Australian dollars to fund a tour and now have guaranteed income from another crowdfunding campaign this for me is exploitation of the fans. If you are not making enough to tour, then don’t do it!
Everybody who is or has been in a band has dreamt about making it big I was in a few and I did to. I know touring is expensive and it’s hard to make enough money to make the dream a reality but it is doable and there is sacrifices involved. You have to be realistic and stop sticking your hand out when you either clearly don’t need it or you unable to cover your expenses to make that dream happen in the first place.
People are free to do what they like with their money but bands should be responsible and realise you can’t resort to E-begging for everything. Treat your fans with respect and work hard and the money will come by itself.
Lastly if you need to crowdfund do it right and do it fairly and most importantly don’t take the piss out of your fans!
