In the post Music Business Startups we talked about some strategies for success in the music business. Even if you’re not in the music business we can learn some examples from the innovative techniques that are being used to fuel growth.
One great example is Jill Sobule who had a hit a few years back when Atlantic Records released the record with her MTV staple and national top 20 hit I Kissed A Girl. Two months ago she launched a campaign to raise funds for her next record. Using the site jillsnextrecord.com she raised over $80,000 in donations for the production, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of her seventh album. In fact, she exceeded her goal of $75,000 and developed a deeper contact with her fans. Jill is proof that you don’t have to be rich, like Radiohead, to ditch the record label and find alternative ways to fund the production of a new record.
Twice I’ve been an executive producer on records with recording budgets of about $30,000 that were entirely funded by pre-sales and donations. When you do things this way you take a lot of the risk out of your project and develop a greater sense of community. You’re not in it alone and people that believe in you are able to help out a little bit towards accomplishing a goal that might not be achieved without them. Your fans become important.
Even if you’re not in the music business you can use a similar approach to launch that project that you’ve been working on but don’t have all of the resources to make it a reality. Kevin Smith did it with one of his films, listing hundreds of people in the end credits of one of his movies in exchange for some seed capital (a little bit from each one). Other communities have been launched through “founding memberships” that funded the development and created a core group of people who had some skin in the game.
The value of your community is one of your greatest assets. Often they want you to be successful as much as you do. You never know what can happen if you don’t try.
