How to Fund a Band's Next CD
One of the first rules of business ventures is that it takes money to make money. If you're in a band are or a solo artist trying to find the capital for that next CD release, you need to take heed of this advice. In order to make the money you want to survive as an artist it is first necessary to convince someone to give you money to record the CD. If you've been saving up, no need to worry, but if you're among the other 98 percent of musicians out there here are some survival tips.
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Instructions
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Think outside the box for funding your band's next CD. No bank officer in his right mind will give a struggling band looking for exposure a loan to fund a recording project. Using credit cards is a bad idea because you will be paying them off for longer than your band will be together. The trick is to come up with something new for funding.
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Solicit fan donations. If you've been playing long enough and hard enough you should have many fans on your email list. These fans want to support you. As opposed to the bank officer mentioned above, they might even want to help the cause financially. Learn who your biggest fans are and ask them to donate to your project, with the full understanding that a donation is not an investment. If you take this track, you must also accept that your band is essentially a charity case, but it doesn't mean you should bow to contributors' whims.
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Find angel investors who are fans of your band's music. While a venture capitalist may be hard to find for an unproven band or act, it's not an impossible thought to find an angel investor. Get to know your audience. Chances are there might be someone who has a lot of money and might want to help. An angel investor is someone who will eventually want his money back, but with little to no interest.
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Promise a mention in a song to all fans who donate. This is a fun step that has worked for acts before. Offer everyone who donates to the cause a mention in a song on the CD. Make one song on your CD a fun song where you mention everyone's full name who donated. Or you could make it a contest. Whoever donates the most gets a full song about them and everyone else gets a mention in the liner notes. It's an idea that can be experimented with in many fun ways.
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Offer pre-orders for your fans. Send an email newsletter to your list offering the chance to pre-order the CD months in advance, before it is released. You will have to throw in perks in order for your fans to sign up to do this, such as free entry to the CD release party, a free t-shirt, a mention in the liner notes or on the website. Pre-orders have actually become quite common for independent musicians. Just make sure you keep good records of who pre-orders your CD--and make sure you finish the CD!
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Tips & Warnings
Paypal has donation buttons you can link to your account on your website and social networking sites.
