I became aware of Jennifer Hall last year when I was first booking Hump Night. She contacted me about performing at the show. Unfortunately, it never worked out. But she has been popping in and out of my radar, most recently because of the Kickstarter project for her band’s new EP.
I’d love for all my friends that are considering using Kickstarter to fund their projects to first take a look at hers. It’s super simple. For $10, you get the EP via digital download. For $20, you get the download and vinyl record. For $100 you back stage access to a show and a mention in the liner notes.
So what is she doing right? She’s not padding it with a lot of silly levels with worthless rewards like “twitter shoutouts.” Does anyone really want that? Instead for each level, you get a decent value for your money. It certainly helps that the song in the video sounds great. If you listen to it, like it, and have $10, there is no good reason not to fund her project.
My advice is to really think about what value you can give people for the money they give you. It’s not charity. It usually doesn’t work if you are just asking for money so you can do your fun art project. Offer them a digital copy of the final project. Offer them special behind the scenes access. Offer them a ticket to your show. And always, ALWAYS offer those gifts at funding levels that are similar in value to the actual thing you are offering. Giving someone a ticket to see your show if you give $100 when the actual ticket only costs $20 is obnoxious. And yet I see things like that all the time on Kickstarter.