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New fan-funding platform in beta

By | Published on Monday 12 October 2009

Following the news last week that Public Enemy were planning on utilising the fan-funding model for their next album – perhaps the most high profile act to date to propose paying for a new long player by encouraging fans to contribute – news this week of another online platform for raising such funding.

The latest addition to the fan-funding domain is called Pledge Music, and has been set up by a musician who, while interested in the concept of utilising fans to fund music projects, wasn’t happy with the fund-raising services currently out there. His solution was to create his own. And with that new platform now in beta, Benji Rogers now has the funding in place to release a new album through his band Marwood.

Speaking to CMU about the new venture and how it came about, Rogers says: “The idea for Pledge Music was born at my mother’s flat, on an air mattress sometime in the middle of 2008. I had been on the road with my band Marwood on and off for around nine years and was getting tired of playing great shows, selling a good amount of CDs and still having no money. In my head I saw a way [utilising the internet] to determine my own musical career [by better engaging with the fans who came to our live shows]. I looked for it online and it wasn’t there and so decided to build it”.

He continues: “I approached my best mate Rupert with the idea as he knew how to build websites and he basically said ‘I want in’. I then called another old mate, Jayce, who was also the only other person I knew who had been to business school; he loved the idea and said that he wanted in too. Then on a trip to Amsterdam, and after a few cocktails, I met Jann, who kindly bought the rest of the drinks as a business expense and announced that he wanted ‘in on the plan’ and that he was a lawyer. So that’s basically how it all came together. I wanted there to be a way that people like myself who just want to make music could do so without accumulating huge amounts of debt”.

Giving the basic lowdown on his new platform, Benji explains: “We have devised Pledge Music to be transparent and open. We have designed Pledge Music to be beneficial to all involved. Musicians will get the funding and promotional support that they need, the fan will get the music that they want at the price that they want to pay, the studios will get paid half up front and half on delivery, and charities [will also benefit]. In effect we have sought to create a system in which nobody loses”.

The site is now in beta. More details of the differences between it and other fan-funding platforms already on the market, such as the one Public Enemy will use, Sellaband, will be announced in the coming weeks before a formal launch.



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