Musician's Ultimate Fan-Funding Guide For 2024
As someone who's raised $20,000 twice to make two albums and was gifted a full-page ad in the Billboard GRAMMY preview by my supporters, I want to encourage you to ask your fans to pay for your next release. I know, it sounds totally scary, but I'm here to tell you it works. I'm also here to tell you how. Let's jump into it.
Set Up Your Music Fan-Funding Page
I offered different levels of donation from $50 to $5,000, which meant bigger prizes for those who donated more. Play big! Never think no one will ever give little old you that much. You will be surprised. The prize for a $1,000 donation was singing with me on a song. This is an experience exchange. Someone did donate $1,000 to my record, and she told me the studio experience was worth it ten times over. A couple also donated $5,000 and I wrote a song for their wedding anniversary (in addition to giving them the other levels’ benefits: a free mp3, credit in the album, a signed poster, a homemade brownie, etc.). Again, I gave them an experience, a memory, something unique for them to have forever. These are the things to offer your fans to make it personal.
The Big Picture, Broken Down
- I set up a one-page landing site in Kajabi that users would see first before heading to my website.
- I set up a PayPal account to accept donations on my own time table.
- I send out a monthly email to my fan list with the SPONSOR button and link in the email (the fewer clicks the better) telling people what I was up to and how they could be involved.
- Once people started giving, I gave them regular updates on the recording process- photos, sound clips and webisodes to keep them in the loop and to let them know their money was going to good use. You could even throw your donors a party!
It may also be a good idea to get some feedback from a handful of fans before you start the project. Ask them what they would want as an incentive to give to your record. You will learn what is valuable to fans and then be able to offer them exactly what they want!
What about Kickstarter? Great question. The debate about sites like Kickstarter can go on for days. My biggest concern is that some sites challenge you to make a certain amount of money by a certain deadline, and if you don’t meet that goal, you don’t get ANY of the money.
Step 1: Email Your Fans
Send an email to fans asking what they’d like to see as a reward for donating to your next project’s funding venture. Tell them you’d love an answer by the end of the week (I use Kajabi for my email and website services).
Step 2: Create Tiers
Use the answers plus some of your own creative ingenuity to develop a rewards scale from $5 to $5,000.
Step 3: Build Landing Page
Create a one-page website to store all of the information on the project. If you don’t have any web design skills, request that a friend or fan help you make a simple site for this project. Offer them one of the tiered prizes.
Step 4: Add A Button
Set up a PayPal account and create a Sponsor button. (You will be creating a “donate” button, but be sure to name the button “Sponsor" as “Donate” implies money is going to a non-profit, so unless you are a 501c, don’t be misleading.) Embed this button on your website, or use a pre-existing fan-funding feature that your site builder already has. An easier way to do this if you use a platform like Kajabi is to set up your tiers as a product and have your fans purchase directly through your site with their preferred payment method.
Step 5: Schedule It Out
Schedule a timeline for the production of your record, even if you are still in the songwriting stages.
Step 6: Start Streaming The News
Announce to the world via social networking and email blasts that you are launching a fan-funded project. Be sure to include a direct link to the PayPal page. Make a short video announcement as well, like Barnaby Bright’s. Remember to keep away from the “starving musician” victim voice, and be the inspiring opportunity- creator that you are!
Step 7: Create Your Updates
Determine the length of the project to decide how many updates you will be sending. If the project is more than one month, send an update once a week. If it’s over a year, once a month. You don’t want people drowning in your project, but you want to communicate enough so they don’t wonder what you’re doing with their money.
Step 8: Keep Your Fans In The Know
Send updates about how the project is going. I liked to send an email with a quick 2-3 minute video of me talking about how it’s going, mixed in with some footage of songwriting, recording, heading to the studio, etc. If you aren’t so hot with video editing or basic production, shoot another email out to fans and friends requesting assistance. Offer one of your rewards for said assistance!
Step 9: Be On Time
Make sure to send everyone their rewards by the end of the project. Be upfront about when you will be sending them their rewards. If you can’t be on time with what you initially said, then at least communicate it.
Pro tip: Learn from others who have done it before
In Amplify, my mastermind for dedicated musicians, we're always talking about fan funding, sharing our ideas, failures, and successes, and brainstorming what's next. Enrollment is open now. I can't wait for you to meet your new community and ace your next fan funding campaign!
References
- Want more support? Join Amplify! | Learn More
- Easily fan-fund and run your music biz through Kajabi | Check it out
- Level-up your social media game to support your fan-funding efforts | The Content Drop
