Deep In The Kickstarter Trenches - Part 2

Lessons learned in the middle of a Kickstarter Campaign

By George Kahn

The Jazz & Blues Revue is now 2 weeks into our 40 day Kickstarter campaign. Although I have released 7 albums on my own, using my boutique record company and CD Baby for distribution, this is the first time I have used crowd funding to finance a project.  Here are 4 tips that I have learned this week that can help you have success with Kickstarter

1.    It starts with a sprint, and turns into a marathon

Last week I spoke about  "first followers".  It is important to have key people lined up to get your project off to a fast start.  Getting traction, and being "in the race" is important to attract others to join your vision and goal. We had a very successful launch, and after 2 weeks we are 33% to our goal of $18,000 to fund our new album.  Now the strategy shifts - we are in a marathon, and perseverance and endurance will be more important than speed and flash.

2.    It takes a village

Hillary taught us that it takes a village to raise a child.  In the same way, it takes a village to raise money on Kickstarter.  You need to get a "buy in" from the members of your group, so that everyone is involved in promoting the project and asking people to get involved.  Each person will have their own strengths they can bring to the project.  One band member may be great with viral marketing, another with writing copy, and another with having a rich uncle.  Find each person's strength, and let him or her bring it to the table.   Everyone in the group needs to own the project for it to succeed.

3.    Use different platforms

When it comes to Internet marketing, the more the merrier.  Social media continues to evolve, and the more places you show up the more likely it is that people will notice you.  Posting on Facebook is the obvious place to start, but you can also post to your groups, and send individual requests to your friends.  Over the last year I joined every LinkedIn group I could find related to music, jazz or blues.  I am now sending these Kickstarter blog posts to these groups.  I also manage four other blogs, and am using them to spread the word.  In a similar way, Twitter has various levels of involvement.  I don't do Pinterest or Tumblr, but the more you can be on these various platforms, the better your chances for people to find your project.

4.    Time to ask

Now it is time to not just go wide, it is time to go deep. This is the hard part for many people.  Picking up the phone and asking for help brings up feelings of fear and rejection, and may even bring up concerns about self worth and your relationship with money.  Remember, this is no time for "paralysis of the analysis".  You have already sent the mass emails.  Now is the week to send personal emails to the people you know most likely to support your vision.  Then, if their pledge does not show up in a couple of days, a follow-up text message or phone call is appropriate.  Time to put on your Nike shirt and shoes, and Just Do It.

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http://tinyurl.com/qjmff3e

http://pursuitofpassionbooks.com

Deep In The Kickstarter Trenches - part 1

Perhaps you have thought about using Kickstarter to finance your next (or first) album.  I have released 7 albums on CD Baby, and now my new group, The Jazz & Blues Revueis using Kickstarter as a platform to bring our album to physical reality.  We are 7 days into our 40 day campaign, and I wanted to share with you some of the lessons I have learned and am learning as the process unfolds.  Here are 9 tips that will help you have success.

1.    Do your research

I spent about 6 months looking at and pledging money to various Kickstarter campaigns to see how they work.  Which ones were successful?  Which ones failed, and why? What was a typical financial goal for a music album project? Kickstarter says that the average pledge amount per person is about $75, so do you have enough fans to help you hit the goal you set?  What makes an attractive video (attractive enough for me to get involved with a total stranger)?

I highly recommend pledging to one or two projects, not only to see the process that your fans will go through, but also to see how the people you back keep in touch with you during their campaign.

2.    Put thought into every aspect of the Kickstarter page

Your Kickstarter page is going to be the main sales tool to get people to back your project, so every aspect of the page must be designed for maximum effect.  You have somewhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes to hook a person into backing your dream.  The cover photo has to be strong and attractive.  I embedded a music sample into the page, so people can hear what they are going to get when they receive our completed album.  The "backer rewards" need to be fun, varied and compelling.  (Remember, people are always more interested in what they GET, not what they GIVE.  You have to stress the rewards they will GET for their money.  This is not a charity, nor is it a traditional "return on investment".)

The first edit of our Kickstarter video was 7 minutes long.  It was like "War and Peace"!  Tolstoy might have loved it, but no one but the band members would be willing to sit through it.  After two more edits, we got it down to a little over 5 minutes, and I made sure that all the really IMPORTANT information happens in the first 2 minutes

3.    Start promoting at least 30 days before the launch

I send out a monthly email newsletter to my database, and so about 2 months before our launch, I started mentioning it in my newsletter.  If you think of your Kickstarter campaign like a movie or CD release, you need to create interest and awareness BEFORE you launch the project.

4.    Line up your "First Followers" in advance

Derek Siver introduced me to the idea of first followers (watch the "Dancing guy" video if you have never seen it:  http://sivers.org/ff ).

People are attracted to success.  To get your project noticed on Kickstarter it needs to look successful from the very start.  After all, you only have 30-60 days to make this happen.  So make sure you have some "first followers" lined up for the day of your launch. It might be family, band members or other "super fans".

5.    Throw parties!

What better way to get people involved than to throw a party? We scheduled a "Kickstarter Kick-off Party" the night of our launch date.  We had a house party, served some food and drink, and had computers and iPads set up for people to pledge.  By the end of day one we had raised almost $3,000! We have another house party and a club gig scheduled during the campaign, to keep interest up and get people involved.  Remember, people just want to have FUN!

6.    Once you launch, watch out for salespeople

Like anything on the internet, once you raise your hand, people will try to grab it.  The day after our campaign launched, I started getting emails from people and websites that promised to boost my visibility on twitter, or to pledge $1 if I gave them $5.  I have avoided all of these, except for one, Backercamp, which seems like a righteous group.  They only take payment once my project reaches its funding goal, and they have been sending me daily ideas on how to keep the project growing.

7.    Create weekly action plans

I am a keeper of lists - daily, weekly and monthly to do lists.  For the Kickstartercampaign, I started with three lists - Before the launch, During the launch and After the launch.  Now that I am in the "during" unit, I have created WEEKLY action plans: starting with what I plan to do this week, followed by activities scheduled each week the campaign runs.  The future weekly action plans are pretty sparse right now, but as they get closer I know they will get filled up.

8.    Watch your language, and say "thank you"

In setting up the campaign and in all communication now I am very careful about my use of language.  I don’t ask for help, I ask people to "get on board".  I don't want people to "donate", I want them to "pre-order" the CD or "get involved" with the project.  And now that we have over 50 backers after the first week, I am sending personal "thank you" emails to each person. Our campaign will only be successful if we got "wide" as well as "deep". I want to reach people that have never heard of us, and I want to turn each backer into a "raving fan" that will spread the word and introduce me to other people that love jazz and blues.

9.    Its not over till its over

The start of this campaign has been like a sprint. Now, with 30 days left to go, we are in a marathon.  It takes training and perseverance, and a lot of time.  But what a wonderful way to spend the next 30 days - contacting people I know, sharing my passion, and bringing a dream to reality.  There's more to come, I am sure of it. We are on our way!

Our debut Album Project Has Begun!

Here is a link to our Kickstarter Page, where you can pledge to make the Jazz & Blues Album a reality!
http://tinyurl.com/qjmff3e

Getting Ready For Our First Album

By popular demand, George Kahn Jazz & Blues Revue goes into the studio in 2014 to record our first album!
You can be part of this event by joining in our Kickstarter campaign.
http://tinyurl.com/qjmff3e

In the meanwhile, please enjoy Gina Saputo singing lead on God Bless The Child from our live show  July of 2013 at LACMA.

The Jazz & Blues Revue Celebrates Photos from WWII at The Fullerton Museum Jan 18th

The Jazz & Blues Revue, featuring George Kahn, Courtney Lemmon, Gina Saputo and Crystal Starr, kicks off the New Year right with a performance at the Grand Opening of the Fullerton Museum's new exhibit,
 "Memories of World War II: Photographs from the Archives of the Associated Press".
Opening Reception is Saturday, January 18, 2014, from 6:00 - 9:00 PM, and it is open to the public.

This will be the first time the Jazz & Blues Revue has ventured into the OC  - please join us!

Click here for more info on The Fullerton Museum

The Jazz & Blues Revue Triumphs at Catalina Jazz Club : our annual PATH Ventures Holiday Fundraiser

Gig update!…On Wednesday, December 11th, PATH Ventures hosted their 8^th Annual Holiday Jazz Revue, an unforgettable evening of dinner, music, and fun at the classic Catalina Bar and Grill. The event took place from 6:30-10:00 PM and featured Jazz Pianist and Composer, George Kahn, Courtney Lemmon, Gina Saputo and Crystal Starr with an all-star band of L.A. studio artists. Jazz vocalist Mark Winkler made a guest appearance, and Jazz legend Bubba Jackson from KJAZZ, returned once again as the MC.

Proceeds from the evening will help PATH Ventures raise critical funding to directly support affordable housing developments across Southern California.

Thanks to our generous sponsors and the sold-out crowd at Catalina's, we raised over $33,000 to help build housing for the homeless in Los Angeles.  In addition,  PATH Ventures connected with two major grant/sponsorships, bringing the grand total raised to $78,000!!! THANK YOU ALL!!!

There are over 51,000 people living on the streets of Los Angeles County on any given night. They are women with children, people struggling with serious health issues, war veterans, seniors, emancipated foster youth, and families who lost everything because of the recession. PATH Ventures’ housing models aim to prevent and end homelessness by integrating supportive services, community development and permanent housing for people in need.

PATH Ventures, in partnership with for-profit and non-profit sponsors, has developed seven housing developments consisting of 385 permanent housing units and 120 transitional units. Our expertise extends across all stages of development, including acquisition, predevelopment, design, construction, financing lease-up and asset management. In addition, PATH Ventures has a strong social services program that we bring to all of our developments

An Amazing Evening at LACMA!

Our show on July 26 was so wonderful - about 1500 - 2000 fans showed up at LACMA for our tour through jazz vocal music from the '40s to the '70s.  The show was broadcast two weeks later on KJazz 88.1 FM.  Thank you all for turning out!  Here is our newest "starr", Crystal Starr Knighton, featured on Boy From New York City (thanks, Michael Jackson and Manhattan transfer!)