Comments on: Crowd Funding – will it work for bluegrass? http://www.thebluegrassblog.com/crowd-funding-will-it-work-for-bluegrass/ News at the speed of Bluegrass! Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:52:42 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: C. Eric Banister http://www.thebluegrassblog.com/crowd-funding-will-it-work-for-bluegrass/comment-page-1/#comment-49321 C. Eric Banister Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:12:37 +0000 http://www.thebluegrassblog.com/crowd-funding-will-it-work-for-bluegrass/#comment-49321 I've been reading and thinking a lot about this lately and I think there is another way of fan funding that would work better for bluegrass artists than the services mentioned above. There are two examples in the Americana/Folk world, Bill Mallonee and Ari Hest. Bill Mallonee got started in the early '90s with a group called Vigilantes of Love and he has recorded, boith solo and with the band, 25 albums to which he owns all of the masters. He sells these in digital format from his Web site (as well as iTunes) and he offers a subscription service for more content. For $10 a month (there are a couple of levels) you can download exclusive Web content from Mallonee. Some weeks it is a demo of a song he is working on, other times it is a rare live show from several years ago. This money goes to help with future recording costs and travel. Ari Hest signed with Columbia a few years back and released two albums with the major label before being released. No through his Web site he offers a subscription service called "52." Subscribers get to download one new song a week, as well as recieve other things from the artist depending on the subscription level. Subscriptions start at $20/mo and include the weekly download, the ability to vote on which songs make it to record and then a copy of the finished product and concert tickets with the higher subscriptions. It would take an intial investment that might put some artists off, but I could see a band profiting from this in the long run, especially a band that doesn't have the goal of going into music full-time. A subscription service that offered live music from your favorite act, or rare jam sessions, could be a big selling point. I’ve been reading and thinking a lot about this lately and I think there is another way of fan funding that would work better for bluegrass artists than the services mentioned above. There are two examples in the Americana/Folk world, Bill Mallonee and Ari Hest.

Bill Mallonee got started in the early ’90s with a group called Vigilantes of Love and he has recorded, boith solo and with the band, 25 albums to which he owns all of the masters. He sells these in digital format from his Web site (as well as iTunes) and he offers a subscription service for more content. For $10 a month (there are a couple of levels) you can download exclusive Web content from Mallonee. Some weeks it is a demo of a song he is working on, other times it is a rare live show from several years ago. This money goes to help with future recording costs and travel.

Ari Hest signed with Columbia a few years back and released two albums with the major label before being released. No through his Web site he offers a subscription service called “52.” Subscribers get to download one new song a week, as well as recieve other things from the artist depending on the subscription level. Subscriptions start at $20/mo and include the weekly download, the ability to vote on which songs make it to record and then a copy of the finished product and concert tickets with the higher subscriptions.

It would take an intial investment that might put some artists off, but I could see a band profiting from this in the long run, especially a band that doesn’t have the goal of going into music full-time. A subscription service that offered live music from your favorite act, or rare jam sessions, could be a big selling point.

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