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Fan Funding in the Music Industry and Beyond
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Archive for the ‘Artists – Established’

Public Enemy sign up for SellaBand.com

October 06, 2009 By: bobslayer Category: Artists - Established, Opinion

PUBLIC ENEMY – have signed up to fund their next album through the new flexible Fan Funding model launched by SellaBand.com
http://www.sellaband.com/projects/publicenemy

SellaBand have been pioneers Fan Funding since launching the first open Fan Funding platform in 2006…
Teaming up with such a well known artist should have been a very interesting project
However it appears it was totally mishandled and ended up exposing the incompetence at SellaBand HQ. The site went bust shortly afterwards only to re-emerge again bought by new owners. Public Enemy have remained with SellaBand but dropped their target and still have not reached it.=

It is a shame that SellaBand’s failure has cast doubt over the viability of Fan Funding – however it was SellaBand that failed not the model which they were unable to implement.

UPDATED 2010

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IDLEWILD

July 14, 2009 By: iFan Category: Artists - Established

On 21 November the band sent an email to fans on the mailing list offering them a chance to preorder the new album (along with “exclusive packaging & including at least one bonus track”) to be “shipped within weeks of completion”. All fans who bought the album this way will also have their name appeear in the CD booklet and on a roll call on the band’s official website. The band explained their reasoning behind this in the email, where they said:
“After 11 years of recording and releasing records within the constraints of the record industry we now fee that the time is right and the technology exists for us to deal more quickly and directly with the fans. It also allows us total control of our music and will ultimately mean that should you choose to get involved you will hear our music as soon as it is available. Although the album will have a more traditional release some time later in 2009 we hope you will support us in our efforts to try something new and choose to pre-order the album now.”
On May 9th 2009, Roddy confirmed in his online diary that the new album will be entitled Post Electric Blues.[6] The album was performed in full on May 19th.[7]
Initial emails indicated a release date to fans who had pre-ordered the album of mid-April, but the album was eventually mailed out on June 10th 2009.

Idlewild are a Scottish rock band, formed in Edinburgh, in 1995, comprising Roddy Woomble (lead vocals), Rod Jones (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Newton (drums), Allan Stewart (guitar) and Gareth Russell (bass). To date, Idlewild have released six full-length studio albums through EMI.

Part of Idlewild’s early success can be attributed to their singles gaining heavy rotation on Steve Lamacq’s Evening Session on BBC Radio, Lamacq often cites them as one of his favourite bands.

On 21 November 2008 the band sent an email to fans on the mailing list offering them a chance to preorder the new album (along with “exclusive packaging & including at least one bonus track”) to be “shipped within weeks of completion”. All fans who bought the album this way will also have their name appeear in the CD booklet and on a roll call on the band’s official website. The band explained their reasoning behind this in the email, where they said:

“After 11 years of recording and releasing records within the constraints of the record industry we now fee that the time is right and the technology exists for us to deal more quickly and directly with the fans. It also allows us total control of our music and will ultimately mean that should you choose to get involved you will hear our music as soon as it is available. Although the album will have a more traditional release some time later in 2009 we hope you will support us in our efforts to try something new and choose to pre-order the album now.”

The album titled Post Electric Blues was mailed out on June 10th 2009.

www.idlewildmusic.com

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PATRICK WOLF

July 04, 2009 By: iFan Category: Artists - Established

Patrick Wolf is an English singer-songwriter from South London who has gained a cult following releasing three albums through a variety of labels including Universal.
At the end of 2008 Wolf announced he had parted with Universal Records and that in order to complete the double album Battle project he planned to sell £10 shares through bandstocks.com: “Basically, you can invest in the finishing of the album and the production of it, and you get a share in the album. So you almost become part of the record company, like a co-owner of the album.” Wolf raised £100,000 and the first album the Bachelor was released on Wolfs own label Bloody Chamber Music in June 2009. It entered the UK Independent Chart at #2 in its first week and made the top 50 in the mainstream album chart.
Woolf has announced that he will return to Bandstocks to finance the second album of the project The Conqueror.
www.patrickwolf.com

Patrick Wolf is an English singer-songwriter from South London who gained a cult following releasing three albums through a variety of labels culminating in a deal with Universal Records.

At the end of 2008 Wolf announced he had parted with Universal Records and that in order to complete the double album Battle project he planned to sell £10 shares through bandstocks.com: “Basically, you can invest in the finishing of the album and the production of it, and you get a share in the album. So you almost become part of the record company, like a co-owner of the album.” Wolf raised £100,000 and the first album the Bachelor was released on Wolf’s own label Bloody Chamber Music in June 2009. It entered the UK Independent Chart at #2 in its first week and made the top 50 in the mainstream album chart.

Woolf has announced that he will return to Bandstocks to finance the second album of the project The Conqueror.

www.patrickwolf.com

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JAKE SHILLINGFORD

June 30, 2009 By: iFan Category: Artists - Established

Jake Shillingford is a singer/songwriter and founder of the cult orchestral alternative band My Life Story. A key player during the Britpop years, the 12-piece released 3 albums, countless singles and achieved 6 top 40 hits in the UK.
One of the original so called DIY practitioners, Shillingford released the first ever internet only single in 1998 through indie label It Records.
More recently, he has released two dark electronic pop albums under the name ExileInside through his own imprint Exilophone Records which owes its existence to a small team of private backers: called the /Investor Angels. The investment scheme is based on the traditional notion of patronage common throughout European cultural history where benefactors would subsidise artistic creation.
Over the past 5 years the Angels have made financial contributions in order for Jake to record, manufacture and release music as well as tour and promote current material. We have replaced the traditional role of the record company with our fans enabling us to run our own genuinely independent label.
The Exilophone mantra is:
MADE FOR THE PEOPLE: PAID FOR BY THE PEOPLE
After a 6-year hiatus, Jake reformed My Life Story in 2006 to promote a ‘best of album’ released through his fan funded label. Jake also lectures on the virtues of autonomy in the music industry from esteemed venues such as the ICA to The Brighton Institute of Modern Music.

Jake Shillingford is a singer/songwriter and founder of the cult orchestral alternative band My Life Story. A key player during the Britpop years, the 12-piece released 3 albums (2 on Parlaphone), countless singles and achieved 6 top 40 hits in the UK.

When sales declined and MLS were dropped by Parlaphone, they managed to push out one further album in 1998 on independent IT Records, also releasing the first ever internet only single. It seemed that Shillingfords artistic days could be numbered however he has been able to continue earn a living producing music to this day due to tapping into the power of his fans.

Shillingford has released two dark electronic pop albums under the name ExileInside through his own imprint Exilophone Records which owes its existence to a small team of private backers: called the /Investor Angels. The investment scheme is based on the traditional notion of patronage common throughout European cultural history where benefactors would subsidise artistic creation.

Over the past 5 years the Angels have made financial contributions in order for Jake to record, manufacture and release music as well as tour and promote current material. We have replaced the traditional role of the record company with our fans enabling us to run our own genuinely independent label.

The Exilophone mantra is: MADE FOR THE PEOPLE: PAID FOR BY THE PEOPLE

After a 6-year hiatus, Jake reformed My Life Story in 2006 to promote a ‘best of album’ released through his fan funded label. Jake is currently recording a fan funded album under his own name. Jake also lectures on the virtues of autonomy in the music industry from esteemed venues such as the ICA to The Brighton Institute of Modern Music.

www.jakeshillingford.com

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MARILLION

June 29, 2009 By: iFan Category: Artists - Established

Marillion are widely considered within the industry to have been one of the first mainstream acts to have fully recognised and tapped the potential for commercial musicians to interact with their fans via the Internet circa 1996, and are nowadays often characterised as a rock & roll ‘Web Cottage Industry’.
The band have always been renowned for having an extremely dedicated following with some fans regularly travelling significant distances to attend single gigs, when a bunch of American fans clubbed together to finance a tour of USA, somewhere that the band had not visited for some years, they realised maybe there was a lot more they could achieve with fan power.
The band unhappy with their record label situation, decided to try a radical experiment by asking their fans if they would help fund the recording of the next album by pre-ordering it before recording even started. They result was over 12,000 pre-orders which raised enough money to record and release Anoraknophobia in 2001. The band licensed the album to EMI on terms that gave them more input over areas such as promotion.
The success of Anoraknophobia allowed the band to start recording their next album, but they decided to leverage their fanbase once again to help raise money towards marketing and promotion of a new album. The band put up the album for pre-order in mid-production. This time fans responded by pre-ordering 18,000 copies. This time Marillion set up their own label to release the album. They have since released two more successful albums in this way showing a sustained revitalisation of the bands fortunes.
On 9th September 2008, Marillion pre-released their own album via P2P networks themselves. Upon attempting to play the downloaded files, users were shown a video from the band explaining why they had taken this route. Downloaders were then able to opt to purchase the album at a user-defined price or select to receive DRM-free files for free, in exchange for an email address. The band explained that although they did not support piracy, they realised their music would inevitably be shared in this manner anyway, and wanted to attempt to engage with p2p users and make the best of a bad situation.
The band unhappy with their record label situation, decided to try a radical experiment by asking their fans if they would help fund the recording of the next album by pre-ordering it before recording even started. They result was over 12,000 pre-orders which raised enough money to record and release Anoraknophobia in 2001. The band licensed the album to EMI on terms that gave them more input over areas such as promotion.The success of Anoraknophobia allowed the band to start recording their next album, but they decided to leverage their fanbase once again to help raise money towards marketing and promotion of a new album. The band put up the album for pre-order in mid-production. This time fans responded by pre-ordering 18,000 copies. This time Marillion set up their own label to release the album. They have since released two more successful albums in this way showing a sustained revitalisation of the bands fortunes.On 9th September 2008, Marillion pre-released their own album via P2P networks themselves. Upon attempting to play the downloaded files, users were shown a video from the band explaining why they had taken this route. Downloaders were then able to opt to purchase the album at a user-defined price or select to receive DRM-free files for free, in exchange for an email address. The band explained that although they did not support piracy, they realised their music would inevitably be shared in this manner anyway, and wanted to attempt to engage with p2p users and make the best of a bad situation
www.marillion.com

Marillion are widely considered within the industry to have been one of the first mainstream acts to have fully recognised and tapped the potential for commercial musicians to interact with their fans via the Internet circa 1996, and are nowadays often characterised as a rock & roll ‘Web Cottage Industry’.

The band have always been renowned for having an extremely dedicated following with some fans regularly travelling significant distances to attend single gigs, when a bunch of American fans clubbed together to finance a tour of USA, somewhere that the band had not visited for some years, they realised maybe there was a lot more they could achieve with fan power.

The band unhappy with their record label situation, decided to try a radical experiment by asking their fans if they would help fund the recording of the next album by pre-ordering it before recording even started. They result was over 12,000 pre-orders which raised enough money to record and release Anoraknophobia in 2001. The band licensed the album to EMI on terms that gave them more input over areas such as promotion.

The success of Anoraknophobia allowed the band to start recording their next album, but they decided to leverage their fanbase once again to help raise money towards marketing and promotion of a new album. The band put up the album for pre-order in mid-production. This time fans responded by pre-ordering 18,000 copies. This time Marillion set up their own label to release the album. They have since released two more successful albums in this way showing a sustained revitalisation of the bands fortunes.

On 9th September 2008, Marillion pre-released their own album via P2P networks themselves. Upon attempting to play the downloaded files, users were shown a video from the band explaining why they had taken this route. Downloaders were then able to opt to purchase the album at a user-defined price or select to receive DRM-free files for free, in exchange for an email address. The band explained that although they did not support piracy, they realised their music would inevitably be shared in this manner anyway, and wanted to attempt to engage with p2p users and make the best of a bad situation.

www.marillion.com

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