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Crowdfunding music: Everything old is new again as artists scramble for your contributions

By John Terauds on January 28, 2014

(Joe Dator cartoon for The New Yorker.)
(Joe Dator cartoon for The New Yorker.)

When Leopold Mozart visited his son in Vienna in 1785, he was in awe of the constant activity — writing, copying, selling and concertizing — that kept the household afloat. Looking at where music is going in the 21st century, it appears everyone needs to take a lesson from Wolfgang Amadeus.

During Lent that year, Mozart took advantage of theatres being closed for the Church’s penitential season to host concerts at a casino that is now the Hotel Ambassador. He sold his music and, from his apartment, he sold subscription tickets (at very high prices).

Nothing happened without the Wolfgang hustling like crazy. He was composer, performer, manager and publicist all rolled into one.

In a letter dated March 12, 1785, Leopold complained to his daughter Nannerl that he never got home before 1 a.m.: “Every day there are concerts, more and more students, music, and copying. Where can I escape? If only the concerts would end. It is impossible to describe the hustle and bustle. Your brother’s pianoforte has been moved at least twelve times from his house to the theater or to someone else’s house.”

Looking around the arts world today, it’s hard not to notice that we are headed back to the same place Wolfgang and his new wife Constanze were in: Hustle or be left behind.

The golden years of The Artist On A Pedestal are gone. There are a select few classical and opera stars left whose careers are safely in the hands of a powerful manager or agent and whose marketing is handled by a big record label. The rest have to fend for themselves.

And how many composers are there who have publishers eagerly waiting for their next new score? Most sell themselves through person-to-person networking, their websites, inviting people to concerts on Facebook, and, increasingly, imitating Mozart’s old subscription model with brazen online solicitations for cash.

For those of you unfamiliar with this method, it’s called crowdfunding, hosted by specialist websites that pocket a small percentage of the proceeds in return for an electronic billboard.

The two most popular sites at the moment are Indiegogo and Kickstarter, used by a multitude of artsits from all disciplines and all manner of Dragon’s Den-style entrepreneurs and inventors to raise funds.

Never before has it been easier for people to inspire others with their ideas. And never before has an individual had to raise their metaphorical voice so high in order to be heard over the online cacophony.

It is the best of times and the worst of times for the artist.

In that context, it’s interesting to look at two current Canadian new music crowdfunding campaigns on Indiegogo. One is dead in the water, just days before its two-month term is up. The other is going strong just two days from the start. The comparison teaches us to not rely on the expected when sizing up the success of crowdfunding.

The first campaign, which concludes on Jan. 31, features a world-renowned percussionist, Dame Evelyn Glennie, a successful, established metropolitan orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony, its well-loved conductor, a highly respected composer, Vincent Ho, and a featured work that has drawn rave reviews (including my own), The Shaman. (I wrote about the campaign here.)

With 5 days left on a 60-day fundraiser, the tally sits at $2,219 out of a goal of $80,000.

The second campaign, which kicked off on Jan. 26, features a highly respected Canadian composer, Jocelyn Morlock, and a collection of musicians in different cities and venues presenting definitive performances of her favourite works.

With 29 days left on this fundraiser, the tally sits at $1,675 out of a goal of $5,000. (Morlock mentions that the recording project was largely pre-funded, including a contribution from her own pocket.)

I could speculate on why one campaign is doing so much better than the other. But the reality is that there is no clear answer.

One this is clear, though: We are seeing more and more of this — not just to fund recording projects, but to build concert programmes and other performing arts projects — as artists learn to hustle for themselves again, outside of traditional institutional support.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

John Terauds

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