Crowdfunding in Hip-Hop: Can Your Fans Finance Your Independence?

If you’re a musician in 2016, the idea of crowdfunding probably won’t be news to you.

Actually, we’re all pretty familiar with the concept; either from viewing someone’s gofundme page or receiving an invite to a graduation party. Now, crowdfunding has become a major installment in the long-winded journey of an independent artist.

Thousands of DIY musicians use crowdfunding to finance their projects. Though it may seem like just another revenue source, having your fanbase finance your music career presents an entirely different approach to the concept of digital branding.

Crowdfunding 101

In the musical corner of online crowdfunding, the process typically happens in two different ways:

• Project Specific Campaigns often work well for Artists that are fairly new to the game. Platforms like Kickstarter allow you to pitch a specific project to your fanbase by asking for the money upfront. This method is pretty popular, since the artist gets to designate a target dollar amount and receive the pledged funds once their goal is met.

• Commitment Campaigns, to no surprise, require an artist to have a devoted fanbase. For example, on Patreon, you pitch yourself as an artist (rather than pitching your next album or mixtape) by asking your fans to sponsor you with ongoing payments.

So now that you know the money is out there, how can you get it?

If you’re an artist with hopes of financing your future through crowdfunding --- go ahead and get cozy with your favorite search engine because you’ve got a ton of research to do! Choosing the right platform is your first step. In addition to the previously mentioned, Pozible, Indiegogo, and ArtistShare are pretty cool too, but it’s up to you to find out what works best for your style and brand.

Before you dive into your new business venture, let’s take a step backward to establish something that many musicians fail to realize before initiating a campaign: You’ll need fans to actually make money! Before you start spending money you don’t have on photo shoots and studio time to jazz-up your crowdfunding campaign, make sure that you have a substantial following to pull this off.

If you’re not sure, it’s probably not your time just yet. Yes, Hip-Hop fans can be on the stingy-side, which is why Rappers need to be somewhat established before they can make a commitment this big. The last thing you want to do is leap out into the music industry before your wings are prepared to fly!

So, to answer your question: YES. It’s been proven possible to finance your independence in Hip-Hop! Artist like Tupac, TLC and De La Soul all looked to crowdfunding at some point in their career.

But just like everything else that we desire in life, crowdsourcing is going to take a great deal of dedication.