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The Weekend Vote

V.com Weekend Vote: Have you ever supported a musician's Kickstarter campaign?

March 9, 2013 at 4:24 AM

Have you ever supported a musician's Kickstarter campaign? Is it something you would consider, or not?

The Internet has opened a host of new ways for artists to connect with supporters, and one of the biggest trends in the past few years has been the crowd-funding of creative projects.

This has had major implications for musicians young and old. Increasingly, when a musician wants to create a new album, he or she will start a Kickstarter campaign to fund it. Kickstarter, started in 2009, has allowed a good number of violinists to raise funding for albums and projects.

How does it work? In a nutshell, you come up with a project, make a budget, make an appealing video to sell people on your project, and if the project is 100 percent funded in a set amount of time, you get the money and do the project.

Here are some violin-related projects that have been funded through Kickstarter in the last few years:

Rachel Barton Pine's Mendelssohn and Schumann concerto album

Judy Kang's Solo album

"Prodigy," a short film about a girl's flights of imagination at her violin lesson, by Lisa Ford.

Javier Orman and Dúo del Sol's first album

Brooklyn Rider's album, "Seven Steps"

Yevgeny Kutik's album, Defiance

The Kréddle chinrest, an adjustable chinrest for violinists and violists.

Would you consider supporting a musician's Kickstarter campaign? Please vote, and share your thoughts on this trend.

(By the way, if you have a Kickstarter campaign going, you can mention it in the comments section of this blog. If you wish to write about a project on Violinist.com, here are Violinist.com's guidelines for doing so. One has to be careful, though, about "spamming" for financial support -- it's a very fine line!)


From Stephanie Cleare
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 5:21 AM
I have put a few dollars here and there to friends' and strangers' musical projects. They have been very successful. We have our own going on now which is very exciting!


From Francesca Rizzardi
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 6:01 AM
I think it's an exciting development. Reading on v.com about RBP's Kickstarter campaign really makes me think whenever I hear a new album on the classical music stations. I don't take them for granted any more.
From marjory lange
Posted on March 9, 2013 at 2:05 PM
I've been more likely to help local people (anonymously).
From Paul Deck
Posted on March 10, 2013 at 12:30 AM
Like Marjory I prefer to support local live music, but as for supporting one of these kickstarter type things, it depends on what it is. I'd be looking for innovation and potential impact.
From Heather Broadbent
Posted on March 13, 2013 at 11:57 AM
I am very thankful for kickstarter. I personally started and had a succesful campaign that not only helps violinists around the world but through the rewards of the campaign I have started music classes for children here in Gabrovo Bulgaria. I know the children are very excited and thankful for this opportunity. We are currently preparing for a talent night in May. These music classes are the first of their kind here. This is only the beginning - next week I have a presentation to give to sponsors here in Bulgaria that will double the money for my program English classes through the arts. Arts being a broad term covering not only music but fine arts, literature and drama. This all would not be possible if I had not started with the initial kickstarter project.


Heather Broadbent

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From Samuel Thompson
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 2:33 PM
In Mary 2011 I launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund my participation in the 2011 Padova International Music Competition. Of course, there was a strange blend of gratitude and "letting go" throughout the process, but I do have to say that I was successful in achieving my goal.

There are a few other funding programs available on the internet, one of which is the Flexible funding campaign site indiegogo.com. With indiegogo, one is able to start a campaign from which all funds raised will be delivered whether or not the funding goal is reached.

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