Bliss Street Studios

Last spring, I took my group ZAHA down the east coast on our first ever week-long tour. We launched a Kickstarter campaign to defray travel costs and collect money to pay the band members. Many folks since then have asked how we met (and exceeded) our fundraising goal.

Below are my three best tips for any musician or creative artist planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign:

1. FOCUS ON A STORY: I believe that we as human beings are irresistibly drawn to stories and that we love to contribute to those stories, not just to people or projects. I’m discovering that I (and many I know) love to participate in making something happen: something bigger than myself, something that enables me to enter a story. For my Kickstarter campaign, I not only talked about my dreams, but also about the amazing players in ZAHA — their expertise, our history as a band, etc. I also talked about how we would and open for other bands in their hometowns while we were on tour, and how we planned to partner with a slew of talented musicians and connect with a ton of new fans on the road.

After the tour was funded and I began rewarding our backers with their respective gifts, I was surprised at how many folks (and several of them were BIG contributors) chose to not get a reward. I actually double-checked to confirm that they didn’t merely forget to pick a reward — they OPTED OUT and enjoyed simply supporting our project. This blew me away and caused me to rethink my whole approach to asking for support. I realized I had been hung up on the “goodies” we had promised at varying levels of support: free recordings, guest list status, a home-cooked meal, etc. And, while I believe rewards are an important part of a successful crowdfunding strategy (both in terms of enticing contributions and expressing gratitude), I came to view these gifts as not the most fundamental element of fundraising. What’s most important is inviting people create a narrative with you.

2. SPEAK FROM THE HEART: While a creative “pitch video” has its merits in capturing viewers’ attentions, I’ve found many examples (including mine!) of lo-fi, DIY, rough-’n'-tumble videos that have helped artists successfully fund their projects. Before we launched our campaign, I actually had a slightly better-looking video ready to go, but after some helpful critique from bandmate Eric Eigner regarding my delivery and confidence on camera, I actually scrapped this take and reshot my video. Since my zoom camera had been stolen at a show in Philly in the meantime, my second pass at the video was on my laptop’s webcam. I shot the on-camera script in one continuous take and interspersed some still images via iMovie. To be honest, the video was severely lacking in the production department!

However, my new video, as rugged as it was on a technical level, was much stronger in the end. I spoke with more passion and presence about what we planned to create, and I delivered a message that was much more true to myself and direct to the viewer. I know that my heart-felt delivery also played a strong part in helping us exceed our financial goal.

3. PROMOTE RELENTLESSLY: The biggest skill I learned in fundraising with ZAHA was to fearlessly and consistently invite our fans to support us. Marketing is a learned skill for me and not an innate talent, so this process definitely stretched me out of my comfort zone. But I know all my efforts — the regular schedule of social media updates, constant electronic nudging, and a host of emails to my list and to key colleagues — all of them made the difference in surpassing our target.

As is often the case with fundraising efforts, there was an initial burst of support, and a bit of lag the following week. I took this as a challenge to work tirelessly and deliver a steady stream of funds to our campaign, and I wanted to avoid the typical timeline of a campaign: a lull in the middle with a frenzied outpouring of money near the deadline. So, with consistent promotion (and many thanks to our awesome donors, we managed to come in ahead of schedule. (One note: along the way, I found it helpful to update folks with mini-milestones: 25% funded, 50% funded, etc.)

Another helpful limitation for me was the built-in time limit Kickstarter imposes on their approved projects. With Kickstarter, a project must raise every penny of its goal by a specific date and time; if not, no one is charged and none of the pledged funds are collected. I know several people who balk at this feature of Kickstarter and prefer sites like Indiegogo which don’t have an all-or-nothing element to their deadlines. But, frankly, this feature got my butt in gear and motivated me to play for keeps. The prospect of going “all in” on our campaign really lit a fire under me and got me moving to drum up some support. And it taught me that there are plenty of people who not only are willing to support our work but welcome it.

Have you raised funds for your creative project using a crowdfunding campaign? What worked? What would you do differently? Or, are you considering launching a fundraising campaign? What are your concerns or questions? Please leave a comment below!