Musician Amanda Palmer has raised $368,000 [Ed note: the amount went up to $379K in the screen shot taken 4 hours after the story was originally posted] in just two days on fundraising site Kickstarter to promote and distribute her latest album. The project went live Monday, April 30 and will run until May 31.
Palmer, a solo artist and member of the Dresden Dolls, has received pledges - effectively donations - from 6,626 backers through midday Wednesday. According to a Kickstarter spokesperson, the project already holds the site's record for value of pledges and number of pledges. Nearly 2,400 people have pledged $1 and will receive a digital download of the album. About 2,900 people have pledged $25 and will get a digital download and CD in a hardbound case. Funding tiers go all the way to the Kickstarter limit of $10,000 - 1 of 5 has already been taken. For people who want to chip in more than $10,000, Palmer has created an alternative financing vehicle called the Loan Spark that facilitates loans rather than donations.
Kickstarter has become a popular way for musicians, designers and other creators to raise money from fans for their projects. In Kickstarter's three years of operation, $38 million has been pledged for music projects.
It still has 22 days to go. It is now over 600% of goal (the goal was $100,000).
It was this much about 18 hours ago
10,762
BACKERS
$584,728
PLEDGED
now
11,125
BACKERS $606,283
PLEDGED
For indie musicians, the general steps are as followed (I think):
1. write music
2. record music in studio (producers, sound engineer etc.)
3. release music to Itunes, Amazon etc...(using a aggregator/distributor like CDbaby or Tunecore)
4. promote music
Earnings = Revenue - Expense
Now with things like KickStarter, musicians can raise the required money straight from their fans. The fans, as patrons, get music in return. Win - Win.
