It looks like Australia will be following in the footsteps of the UK’s PledgeMusic with the launch of a music-focused crowd funding website scheduled to launch in early 2013.
While Australia already has a number of crowd funding websites including Kickstarter and Pozible, none are singularly focused on music-based financial goals.
Enter Zoshpit. Due to launch in January, the Australian-owned website aims to help up-and-coming musicians find monetary resourcing by reaching out to fans via their online platform.
Crowd funding builds a gateway between fans and an artist or band on a more personal level. This is done by having artists post projects whereby they invite fans (new and old) to pledge towards their predetermined funding goal. If the goal is met, funds are processed and the artist’s project goes ahead.
Those who supported the project receive rewards which are set by each artist (e.g. free album download once completed, signed merchandise, meet and greet etc). If the goal isn’t met, pledges aren’t processed.
Still confused? Check out our beginners guide to crowdfunding websites.
Anything from albums, merchandise and tours can all be funded with local bands being invited to start thinking of ways they can use the site.
“Artists get to complete projects they’ve possibly only ever dreamed of, and fans can contribute like never before, be connected in special ways and share in the journey. “Crowdfunding has seen a huge boom in the last few years with established sites attracting artists big and small to their cause.
Most recently, Perth rockers Eskimo Joe announced their hopes to fund the band’s next album through Australia’s creative platform, Pozible. The band reached their $40,000 goal within days and are not alone in their success.
UK-based PledgeMusic (which deals only with music-related crowdfunding and is run by ex-record company experts) has seen huge artists reach their musical goals including Ian Ball of Gomez, The Boy Least Likely To, Martha Wainwright, Ben Folds and Australia’s own Ben Lee.
The obvious advantages of big and small artists using this moe of fundraising is the element of artistic control and licence It seems the old model of funding and purchasing music may indeed be long gone with fans basically paying for their favourite band’s music upfront as opposed to the other way around.
If the countless number of high-profile artists aren’t enough to convince you that the times are indeed a-changin’ consider that recently, Aussie record label Inertia teamed up with crowdfunding platform PledgeMusic aiming to provide retail and fundraising platform for the artists on their label.
Acts on the label include The Herd, Chet Faker, Hermitude, Seth Sentry, and Dappled Cities all of whom will now be offered full access to the PledgeMusic platform as an integrated part of their release campaign, creating new opportunities for crowd-sourcing, sales and fulfilment.
Considering the success of the UK’s music-centric PledgeMusic, it seems time that Australia jumped on board and created a singularly-focused crowdsourcring platform for small and big musicians alike.
Zoshpit director Julian Chong states “by focusing purely on the music industry, we offer features that will help artists showcase their projects to give them every chance of getting funded. It’s a win-win situation for everybody.”
He continues, “artists get to complete projects they’ve possibly only ever dreamed of, and fans can contribute like never before, be connected in special ways and share in the journey.
Zoshpit is due to launch in January 2013 and is currently looking for Aussie musicians and bands to submit projects they are looking to get funded. For more information visit www.ZoshPit.com.au .
