We need your help figuring something out! So please read on. I’ve been itching to do another Kickstarter because after 6 years we desperately need to revamp the website and it would also be cool to raise a little money to finally pay our writers. Yesterday I was sent an article and the following sentence deeply resonated with me: “Think about it. One day a site you have read for years just won’t be there anymore because the close-knit teams who have been putting them together – because there is a need and a role – just didn’t get anything coming in to cover even basic costs let alone earn a living. What are you going to read then?” We started selling banner ads to finance the revamp ourselves, but as I mentioned before here, they haven’t been overly successful. We also did a hasteful Booster campaign, which also didn’t quite work out as we had planned. In any case, it’s a fact that Search and Restore had two successful Kickstarter campaigns raising altogether over $80,000. There have also been numerous musicians who have been able to raise $5,000 to $20,000 to finance a new album. So I don’t see why we couldn’t raise $5,000 ourselves. But this this time we want to go about it the right way so we are asking for your help to test the waters first. Please read on!
If you have any experience with crowdfunding we’d love to hear your opinion on how we should proceed. What should we be careful about? What are the keys to succeeding? Should we use Kickstarter, IndieGoGo or another platform? What obstacles are we not thinking about?
If you’re a fan of Nextbop, would you contribute to our fundraiser? What types of incentives would be appealing enough for you to donate money? Is our mission noble enough to be funded? How could we tweak our message to obtain greater response?
Finally, if you’re an artist or represent a label or a relevant company, what would you be willing to donate as incentives for fans to help in raising funds to redesign Nextbop. Let’s try to think outside the box! I’ve been doing a bit of brainstorming on my own and so far this is what I’ve come up with:
Nextbop T-Shirts, Hats
Banner Ads on the site
Spend time in San Antonio with Anthony
Spend time in Montreal with Seb
Meal cooked by Seb
Shout out on Nextbop’s Twitter
Nextbop Sticker
Anthony will send you a review of your album (be careful what you ask for! lol)
Nextbop silicone bracelets
Nextbop sunglasses
Nextbop temporary tattoo
Nextbop headphones
Nextbop bluetooth speakers
Autographed albums, vinyls, sheet music by a musician
Label box sets
Skype lessons with a musician
Live lesson with a musician in the city of his choice
Coffee, beer, meal with a musician
Concert tickets + backstage meet and greet
Cover song of pledgers choice played by a musician
Mouthpiece, Instrument of musician
A musician will record a personalized voicemail message for your phone
Private concert for you in a city chosen by a musician
Go on stage and play a song with a musician during a concert
Personalized playlist made for you by a musician
Does any of this sound cool enough for you to shell out a few bucks for a good cause? If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you value our work and as I said before you’d be helping to “finance a better website, journalists and content so you’re investing in a stronger jazz ecosystem.”
Really looking forward to hearing from all of you!! You can comment at the bottom of the post, reach us via Facebook or Twitter, or email me at the address at the top of the post. Thanks for your help!
Sébastien Hélary co-founded Nextbop in 2009 with the objective of introducing modern jazz music to a younger generation of fans. Aside from music, his other main obsession is food, particularly ramen and other Japanese delicacies.
