**Update Nov 24 - Since our original goal of 20K is seemingly out of reach at this point, our goal before the campaign closes is to finish at 10K, and your support in getting there would be greatly appreciated. Although we'll have to cut out the music video and some of the promotional aspects of the EP I was hoping to do, we can still do the most important part - record the EP, and get it out to all of you and my fans.
Hey Everyone,
Thanks so much for visiting my IndieGoGo Campaign. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Dave Edwards and producing music has been my life for the past five years. This campaign is about creating, recording, and promoting an EP (4 tracks) of original electronic music that's been almost three years in the making.
2013 has been an incredible year and one I'm extremely thankful for. My music has gone from relative anonymity to the top of the HypeM charts, and I've received support from both blogs and fellow artists/producers that's unlike anything I've had before. When I released my first EP in 2011, I committed to not releasing more original music until I knew two things to be true: that I was skilled enough as a producer to make the kind of music I want to make, and that I'd have the platform and resources to promote the music I work so hard on the right way. Now is that time. I hope you'll read on below (and check out the video above, if you haven't already) to find out more about me, this EP, and why I'm using IndieGoGo.
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The EP:
I make electro pop music (hop on over to my Soundcloud if you haven't heard it yet). A lot of producers in the electronic scene are afraid to say that, but it's a role I'm growing more and more comfortable with by the day. My music makes you feel good, and hopefully makes you want to dance along the way. This music is going to make you happy, it's going to be music you get attached to, and it's going to be the soundtrack of your summer next year.
My Story:
I first started producing music just as I was finishing college at USC. After moving back to Brooklyn, I produced hip hop records for a while, but a trip to Ultra Music Festival in 2009 was life changing for me. I began releasing really bad electro house remixes in early 2010 and worked and worked until I started to figure out what makes a record click. As of this month, my songs and remixes have now been listened to more than a million times on Soundcloud, charted at #1, #2, and #3 on HypeM's Most Popular, and helped grow my fan base upwards of 12,000 strong on Facebook. I've been fortunate to receive support from the best blogs in electronic music including Thissongissick, Indie Shuffle, Dancing Astronaut, Gotta Dance Dirty, Earmilk, Arjan Writes, and many more.
Why IndieGoGo?
IndieGoGo is the only way I could make this record without compromises or without putting myself in a bad situation contractually with a label. I love labels, and spent my college years working for them, but they're not ideal for up and coming artists who don't want to give up everything they've spent years working for. Once you're on a label, you're subject to their priorities, their release schedule, and their interpretation of what's commercially viable or not -- and you can often end up waiting months or years to put finished tracks out, if you're lucky enough to even get to that point. The downside is, there's no advance check for being indie. There's no recording budget, no marketing budget, and nobody out there helping push your records. That's where the power of crowdfunding has been a game changer for a lot of independent artists, and I hope it will be for me too.
Just as important -- crowdfunding allows you to be a part of the process. You'll be thanked on the liner notes of the EP. At certain tiers you'll actually be able to watch and see how a record goes from one simple idea or chord progression into a fully recorded and mastered track ready for release.
What I Need and What You Get
While recording, mixing, and marketing an album or EP has certainly gotten cheaper, it still isn't cheap:
•Recording instruments and vocals, mixing, and mastering the EP all require a solid amount of studio time at $65+ an hour.
•Filming a music video, paying for promotions and PR, and hiring a graphic designer to do cover art for the EP all add significantly more to the budget.
•Finally, IndieGoGo takes their cut of all funds raised (either 8 or 12%, see below), and I have to manufacture the perks - physical CDs, flash drives, posters, etc - and pay for shipping.
This campaign is being run using what's called Flex Funding - meaning unlike Kickstarter, the campaign will be funded whether we reach our goal of $20,000 or not. It's particularly important we get to the goal because if we fall short, IndieGoGo raises its fees to 12% - as opposed to 8% if we get there - so less money goes towards the project. If we can get beyond 20K, it will mean we can rent better equipment for the video shoot, record in a higher quality studio (which translates directly to how good the recordings sound, particularly with vocals), and get some really impressive graphic design done for the album art and promotions materials.
Aside from the digital downloads, all of the perks are exclusive to this campaign.
FAQ