Move over Kickstarter and Indiegogo, there’s a new player in the crowd funding arena. Zoshpit, based in Australia and focused solely on music plans to revolutionise the Australian music industry by offering a platform tailored to the needs of artists, bands and musicians.
ZoshPit is the only crowdfunding platform based in Australia to focus purely on music related projects. In addition to raising funds via fan funding, the site offers artists the ability to upload, and sell their tracks without giving away a commission, although PayPal transactions fees will still apply)
Crowdfunding itself offers artists and fans a way of connecting like never before, and musicians and artists have flocked to the crowdfunding phenomenon in their droves, using innovative online platforms to campaign for the creation of a range of musical-related endeavours, as highlighted in Tone Deaf’s regular Crowdfunding Forecast column.
Whether its Eskimo Joe smashing records to raise funds for their new studio album (only to be surpassed by Melbourne prog band 12 Foot Ninja for a new music video), Saskwatch getting a leg-up to travel to UK’s mammoth Glastonbury Festival, live music activistsSLAM offering dinners and musical lessons with musos in exchange for support, or helping cast an honorary statue of AC/DC frontman Bon Scott, Crowdfunding seems limited only by the imagination of creative types and the passion of fans supporting their endeavours.
Still confused? Check out our beginners guide to crowdfunding websites.
On Zoshpit, by showing support by pledging towards projects, fans can receive novel and personalised rewards and incentives, unlike the traditional forms of music distribution. Artists can use ZoshPit to fund any music related project such as producing an album, putting on a gig, or filming a new music video.
UK-based PledgeMusic, who like Zoshpit only deals only with music-related crowdfunding has seen huge artists reach their musical goals including Ian Ball of Gomez, The Boy Least Likely To, Martha Wainwright, Ben Folds and Australia’s own Ben Lee.
The obvious advantages of big and small artists using this moe of fundraising is the element of artistic control and licence It seems the old model of funding and purchasing music may indeed be long gone with fans basically paying for their favourite band’s music upfront as opposed to the other way around.
If the countless number of high-profile artists aren’t enough to convince you that the times are indeed a-changin’ consider that recently, Aussie record label Inertia teamed up with PledgeMusic aiming to provide retail and fundraising platform for the artists on their label.
Acts on the label include The Herd, Chet Faker, Hermitude, Seth Sentry, and Dappled Cities all of whom will now be offered full access to the PledgeMusic platform as an integrated part of their release campaign, creating new opportunities for crowd-sourcing, sales and fulfilment.
“This is an exciting time for our music industry. Being able to facilitate making a few musical dreams come true is an honour,” said ZoshPit Co-Founder, Julian Chong.
“By focusing purely on music, we’re not only providing a more tailored platform for artists and bands, but we’re also providing a better experience for their fans. We don’t want crowdfunding on ZoshPit to be just about raising funds and doing your thing. It’s about creating long term relationships everyone involved.”
For more information visit www.zoshpit.com.au
