What is the future of music?

What is the future of music? The new system of gathering funds straight from the fans.

Amanda Palmer of the indie goth punk unit The Dresden Dolls asked fans to contribute to her Kickstarter, a relatively new fundraising web service.

Backers received perks of various value, depending on the amount donated, some got special edition CDs while others got to have dinner with Palmer herself.

And in the end, Palmer raised over 1,000,000 dollars.

There have, of course, been Kickstarters of this same success until now, but Palmer is said to be the first musician to pass the mark. The platform is used however, but thousands: Patrick Wolf, as I remember, used it to raise funds while he was producing the Bachelor.

The LA Times had the following to say about Palmer’s achievement:

“In the bad old days, artists had to make a pact with a major label to get that kind of money. Now they can go straight to the people.”
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The Breezes, an indie band from Montreal that I’ve been supporting since last year, have started a fundraiser of their own.

The Breezes by Chris Kralik

First, let’s introduce them though.

The Breezes are an indie rock band formed in 2009 by a group of childhood friends. They are characterized by their psychedelic, atmospheric nature, though at times they toss the rock band setup, bring in synthesizers and create a whole instrumental album: it could be said that they don’t really like to be fit into one genre. They were previously interviewed in Private Dub here, so check it out if you like.

And while they’ve been distributing free downloads of 80’s music found at garage sales, the continued promises of an LP release this year seemed less likely to be fulfilled as time went on. After a half of a year wondering where they went, suddenly, I got an email.

"The album is fully completed and masterd...It is called The Breezes ...haha. We are releasing it with a local Montreal label Mercy Records this year."

And, the band told us they’d be using IndieGoGo to support their production costs.

Like Kickstarter, IndieGoGo is a website musicians can use to receive donations from fans in exchange for perks. And the more you give, the more you get.
The Breezes came up with the following for their page:

$5 Digital Download
$10 CD+Digital Download
$15 Vinyl+CD+Digital Download
etc., etc., until you reach the $1000 point, which is…

“Visit +1 to Breakglass Studios in Montreal during a Breezes recording session (precise time TBD), including dinner, and champagne at the studio with The Breezes, glass of champagne with The Breezes backstage at September album release show/tour. t-shirt. Vinyl, CD, and advance digital download of The Breezes’ debut album”.

In other words, a pretty hefty package.

Fans are now finding themselves with the ability to directly support the artistic endeavors of their favorite musicians without the middleman. It’s different than just buying a CD. Fans feel closer, that what they’re doing can keep a band they care about alive. The potential that can be felt in this new link between artists and fans is tremendous.

The two videos below are 1) a music video for The Breezes’ new “Promethean Eyes” and 2) a teaser from their new album that doubles as a promotional video for their fundraiser.





To support The Breezes, go here.
The Breezes Official Web Site 
The Breezes Bandcamp

Read this article in Japanese.
日本語で読む。

Translation by Andrew Brasher