Here is a little note on yet another fan funding website called Artist Share. Its model differs from those of SellABand or SliceThePie where any band can sign-up and start the funding process right away.
Artist Share is selective: either you’re accepted or you’re not, and the site apparently aims at pretty specific styles of instrumental music like classical and jazz. Another important difference is that fans don’t necessarily obtain shares of the produced album, and therefore don’t perceive royalties from its sales.
Although Artist Share clearly isn’t for everyone, it still offers a nice take on the fan-funding model. In exchange for financial support, the fans are offered access to a more personal and probably more rewarding side of the production – the creative process.
We had already talked about the band Shane Hines and the Trance who had devised a donation plan to get their album funded by offering donors personal attention like guitar lessons, free cooked dinners, house concerts etc (read the story here). Artist Share works a little along those lines. In exchange for donations, fans receive different offers depending on the amount of their donation. Prices start at a couple of bucks and can go up to thousands of dollars with offers ranging from limited edition CD/DVD packages to an invitation to a recording session. The artists really chooses what he wants to throw in the deals.
Lots of offers are about helping the fan get to know his band a little better by making the experience personal. By doing so not only does the artist feel validated but so does his donor-audiences. I think this brings great value to the creative process as the main actors, the bands and their fans, work together for the completion of the project.
What better way to consolidate healthy long-lasting relationships with your fans then by helping them help you. In most cases that’s what they all strive for.
