Tag: "kickstarter"

OS Members Nemes have launched a Kickstarter campaign in hopes of raising funds to cover the cost of recording both an EP and LP in the coming months.

At this point it seems a bit silly to recap the purpose of crowdfunding through sites like Kickstarter, but essentially Nemes are asking fans to send them donations with the promise of receiving new music (as well as other donation prizes) in return. Nemes are seeking $7,000 to fund the recording of an LP and EP, one electric and the other acoustic, in hopes of showcasing as many sides of their group as possible. A message posted on the fundraising page by Nemes reads:

Nemes is releasing two new bodies of work:

The new EP:

Our brand new EP, “Five Minutes EP” is available NOW with any Kickstarter incentive over $20. It is an acoustic EP recorded live in a studio with Grammy winning producer Ducky Carlisle. This EP is exclusively available to Kickstarter backers. Continue reading ‘Nemes Launch Kickstarter To Fund New Recordings’

Welcome to the new music economy, where distribution channels are paved with fiberoptic cable and shipments are packed into .zip files. The greatest aspect of the music industry in its current form is that there’s a lot of money to be grabbed. It’s just that the methods of securing said cash may require a bit of attention and diligence outside of the realm of music creation.

Nobody is selling records. But there are still tours to plot, t-shirts to sell, and music to put out. In the vacuum created by a lack of revenue from music sales, crowdfunding has taken hold as an appealing, if not the only, viable alternative. And as crowdfunding becomes bigger and moves more into the mainstream, the innovation in the use of the medium is growing as well.

What I’m saying is, what you can crowdfund is limited only by the scope of one’s imagination.

Continue reading ‘Is There A Limit To What Can Be Crowdfunded?’

Venture Guitars is an independent custom guitar company based out of Pawtucket, RI. It was founded in 2009 by four friends, including Travis Alexander of the band Ghost Thrower (formerly of Therefore I Am). They have handmade high quality 100% custom guitars for major artists including Steve Klein of New Found Glory, Dallas Green of City and olour (ex-Alexisonfire), Bryan Donahue of Early Morning Blues (ex-Boys Like Girls), and more. Now they are hoping to push their business to the next level by entering their first original design into the professional guitar market, but they need your help! The guitar is called the Anna-Lee, and through Kickstarter, they are hoping to raise at least $15,000 to afford new parts and equipment to expand their business and build more of this model. If you would like to help fund this project and support an ambitious, independent, all American-made company, click here to learn more, donate, and receive some cool pledge rewards!

More Like This:

Therefore I Am To Play End Of The World Reunion Show
Story Of The Year Members To Create Documentary About Music Industry
Bayside Selling Benefit T-Shirt For Victims Of Hurricane Sandy

The concept of the struggling artist is nothing new and in fact, it’s more prominent today than ever before. Playing frequent shows, selling merch and making quality music aren’t always enough to pay the bills these days. Often times, you may find yourself aching to create a new album, some new music videos, or invest in better equipment. But without the cash, what’s a struggling band to do?

Enter: crowdfunding. Most are familiar with the crowd-funding platform Kickstarter. However, Kickstarter isn’t your only option and in fact, not always your best.

Did you know that Kickstarter only accepts 60% of applications and only has a 44% success rate? Read on after the jump for our comparison of three of the top crowd funding sites: Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and Crowdtilt. Continue reading ‘Comparing Crowdfunding; Why Kickstarter Isn’t Your Best Option’

Hard rock band Story Of The Year‘s Ryan Phillips (lead guitarist) and Adam Russell (bassist) are planning to create a documentary called Who Killed (Or Saved!) The Music Industry?. The two band members have years of experience between them as film makers for music videos, documentaries, art films, and more, but now they are asking for your help to produce what may be the most important documentary of their careers to date. The duo plan to tackle to issue of our rapidly changing and deteriorating music industry by talking to bands, artists, producers, record labels, managers, and anyone else who has been affected by this dilemma. Their goal is to attempt to find answers to some of the industry’s biggest and most currently pressing questions by offering insite into the working class artist’s perspective. To learn more and donate to the funding of this project, head over to their Kickstarter. This is something that affects all of us music types, especially here at OurStage, and it would be really great to see this documentary come to fruition!

If you like Story Of The Year, then you might also like OurStage’s own Arazi.

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• Sell-Out: Is Music Licensing The Saving Grace For Artist Income?
• Behind the Mic: The New Age of Album Promotion
• The Power of Kickstarter

Having suffered a bizarre hit and run accident that has left her with a bigger deductible than she can handle, OurStage’s own Jenna Bryson has taken to social media with her most persuasive tool: her own music. Bryson recently posted a song and video that detail the accident, in which a woman drove in reverse through an intersection, hit Bryson’s Nissan Cube, and sped away from the scene. Progressive Insurance was unable to find the woman who hit the car, and supposedly could not find a record of Bryson’s insurance record either. Now, she needs $1,000 to help dig her out of the insurance hole, and in exchange is offering her music for free as well as personalized songs about anyone who donates money. Judging by the cute song that she whipped up to advertise her current financial situation, the personalized songs are probably pretty awesome too.

Continue reading ‘Jenna Bryson Writes “Hit And Run Song,” Asks For Help In Hit & Run’

• This could be either amazing or terrible.
• #hash
• “We need an M.D!”
• Oh, so now you do, Amanda.
• Don’t put your money down just yet.
• What’s a Google?

Western indie folk rock band Murder By Death are streaming their new album Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon on MTVHive.com. Based out of Bloomington, Indiana, the 5-piece will be releasing their sixth studio album under Bloodshot Records, with the help of an incredibly successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign. The album is due out September 25th. Click here to listen.

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• Riffs, Rants & Rumors: Murder By Death’s Dark Dreams
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Talain Rayne

“Talain Rayne is shipwrecked.” Thus begins Talain Rayne’s Kickstarter manifesto, a hilarious, touching plea for donations to help the singer-songwriter get a new set of wheels and get out of Dodge. (Dodge being Phoenixville, PA.) Rayne’s ability to raise more than $12K is due in part to his uncanny resemblance to Tom Hanks in Cast Away. But it’s also due to his huge talent. Rayne crafts swooning, emotive indie pop with stomping drums, cascading pianos, twinkling xylophone and awesome boy-girl harmonies. From his dreamy meditations on sibling revelry in “Dear Sister, Your Brother” to the fierce vulnerability in “16,” Rayne knows how to pack a visceral punch. Probably one of his most moving songs is “Family Wall,” written for his father. “I take back everything I said, all because I love you, dad,” he croons. There aren’t a lot of dudes singing love songs to their dads out there, which makes this one all the more touching. Hey Talain — we love you, man.

Blameshift’s steady rise to the upper strata of commercial music is the product of not just talent, but serious marketing mojo. First the band became road warriors, criss-crossing across the country in a bus fueled by corn oil and building a bi-coastal fan base. Those diehard fans allowed Blameshift to finance their first record through Kickstarter and release free downloads in exchange for a “like” on Facebook. Their strategy paid off, exposing their polished hard rock to new fans and sponsors, and netting them placement on The Real World and Call of Duty. Blameshift’s music is as heavy as it is catchy, driven by the siren song of Jenny Mann. Guitars chug and strike through mountains of distortion, drums are pummeled to within an inch of their life, and Mann’s voice pierces through it all. Start with “Ghost” or “Killing Me” for a dose of dark and fitful rock. If you like to dance through all the drama, we recommend the sinister, polyrhythmic rocker,“The Sirens Are Set.” “Are you ready?” Mann asks. “This could last forever.” Cool by us.