Self Hosted Crowdfunding: How it works

It’s been less than a week since the launch of the crowdfunding for the new album and we’ve already reached 10 percent of the first goal due to the generous pledges of members of this lovely and supportive listening community. Thank you to those who have got in early.

In this post I’m going to explain how this self-hosted funding campaign will work.

The main reason it’s self-hosted is because the whole point of being an independent artist is to take control of as many aspects of my art and it’s distribution as I can. Crowdfunding is awesome, however the crowdfunding sites all take a cut of the money people pledge. That’s fair enough – they are offering a valuable service. However by hosting the campaign myself, and using the skills in web development that I have gained in my working life, I am able to cut out the middleman in this case. That means more of the money raised – after PayPal fees, printing and pressing – will go back into helping me to make more amazing music for you to hear.

So how does it work?

Basically it’s like any shop where you can put your own reward package together by choosing from a range of goods. These include some exclusive products that won’t be available after this campaign, such as the limited run Tshirt. You can also purchase buttons/pins, CDs, a hard cover lyric book and even a mention in the credits as an executive producer. There are options to have your CDs and books signed. As well there is the chance for you to have your own words or ideas turned into a t.k. bollinger song – how cool would that be – collaborating together!

All these rewards have a minimum price, but there is the option for you to pledge more. This is a fundraiser after all and the pledges range from $5 so any contribution, however large or small you can make is appreciated.

As an incentive, for those who pledge over $50, there is a bonus once the first goal of $2000 is reached – a live acoustic CD/Download of the songs on the album. This won’t be something I will be making available to anyone else.

That’s pretty much the low down. If you can’t afford to make a contribution, that’s fine. I still appreciate your love and support. You can always share the campaign URL (http://pledge.tkbollinger.com/) with your peeps and let them know how my music has moved you.

As you can see I’m in full campaign mode and I’ll keep you posted over the coming weeks as to how things are rolling along.

Wish me luck on this. It’s quite a big step for me, but I’m willing to take the risk to keep my art true to the vision that I have always pursued, and your pledge will help me to continue to journey down that road.