Buzz Blog
Kickstarter, and other crowd-funded campaigns, might seem, at times, like desperate pleas in the night from creatives, but these methods have drastically changed the face of independent music, giving freedom to the creators and more interaction between both sides.
From desktop organizers to documentaries, and from a mini-comic series to probably dozens of bacon-related projects, the sky's the limit with crowd funding. But more often than not -- as far as I’ve seen -- it is used by bands to make music. In case you don’t know how it works, here’s this (if you do know, skip ahead): A creative person who needs money sets up an account and pitches it to anyone with access to a computer. Folks can then choose to pledge whatever amount they wish, but typically, there are levels associated with how much that is and what they get in return. At the end of the time period, if the goal is met, then the creative gets the money; if it is not met, he gets nothing.
So, anyway, here are the current local music projects that need a little green to get off the ground:
Gothen’s debut album
The gist: Evan Blades Jolley and a group of musicians are hoping to record a swath of tunes written collaboratively. It’s some of the most beautiful music that I’ve heard locally in a while, with rich instrumentation that fully understands when and where to add tension and fullness and when the song is best served by backing off.
End date: Feb. 4
Strangest gift in return for a pledge: Pledge $1,000 or more and “Come and be a part of the recording process! Spend time with us! sing a part, clap those hands, bang a drum, bend a string! ... I could go on and on; also, everything from the 100-dollar tier (bear in mind we record in Provo, Utah).”
The music:
Campaign page: Gothen
Hope & Tim Glenn’s debut album
The gist: “We had three goals coming into this year: Climb on the baby train, get a proper band website, and record a proper album. Two outta three ain’t bad,” writes the band on their Kickstarter page. The duo are now backed by a proper band to bring out their delicate acoustic-minded Americana soul. The band wants to hit the road to Colorado to record their debut album, following up the Green Street Sessions demo.
End date: Feb. 21
Strangest gift in return for a pledge: Pledge $200 or more: “The "Artistic Vision - Shmartistic Vision." We want to collaborate with you! Let's get together and make a design, or a song, or a statue (caution: we do not know how to make statues and should not be trusted). We'll work with you to create a piece of art and screen-print it for you, or record it with you, or perform it live on stage at an old-folks home with you.”
The music:
And more demos can be heard here.
Campaign page: Hope & Tim Glenn
