Despite some initial reservations, genre-bending hip-hop pioneers De La Soul recently decided to give crowdfunding a try, having seen the success that director Spike Lee had with the platform in raising $1.4 million for a film project.
Much to their surprise, the venture worked. The trio have realised the second largest amount of money of any music-based Kickstarter campaign ever. As The New York Times reports, their campaign has raised an incredible $600,874 from 11,169 backers.
In return for their donations, old-school hip-hop fans received a range of prizes, including a Skype video chat with the group and a vintage boom box from one member’s personal collection. The money will now go to recording the group’s eighth studio album.
The campaign managed to reach its goal of $110,000 in just nine hours and went on to edge closer and closer to Amanda Palmer’s record of $1.2 million – a hefty sum that later saw the indie star copping considerable criticism.
The group’s eighth album, And the Anonymous Nobody, will be the group’s first since 2004 and the band promise it will be free of the commercial constraints that come with a traditional record deal, even those on the inside labels where De La Soul built their career.
“A lot of times labels don’t even know what they want,” Kelvin “Posdnuos” Mercer, one-third of De La Soul, told The New York Times. “They could be chasing what they think is the new thing.”
As the NYT notes, the trio’s campaign highlights the way crowdfunding has become a way for veteran artists to raise funds as well as emerging acts. TLC, The Hold Steady, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Kenny Loggins, and Paula Cole have all raised funds using crowdfunding.
As far Michael McGregor, a Kickstarter spokesman, is concerned, the “history and the connection” that a band or artist have developed with their fans over the years has a chance to come through in a considerably way during a crowdfunding campaign.
The members of De La Soul are music “lifers”, he said. “They’ve always been pretty open and honest about the issues that they’ve had within the business. Through their career, you can see the real downfall of the music industry.”
The band say they will use the money to return to the carefree days of their iconic debut, 3 Feet High and Rising. “We didn’t have focus groups,” said Mercer, now a 46-year-old veteran of the industry. “You can see the difference creatively.”
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However, they’ll be careful not to squander their fans’ contributions. “Since we are an established group, we didn’t want to come off as begging or greedy,” said Mercer. “It’s not like we’re going to a $500-an-hour studio. We’re still being cautious on how we spend.”
Before fund-raising even started, the band spent about $100,000 recording more than 200 hours of jam sessions to sample on the album, freeing the group from paying to use music by others. Guest artists featured include David Byrne, 2 Chainz, and Gorillaz collaborator Damon Albarn.
The group would be wise to take heed of Amanda Palmer’s cautionary tale, who suffered significant backlash after she revealed that the $1.2 million she raised was a “loss leader” that would hopefully inspire fans to sign up to her Patreon account.
However, judging by Mercer’s comments, the band understand who they’re accountable to – the fans. “There were definitely labels interested in De La Soul,” he said. “[But now] there’s no one in the way and no one to blame.”
