PledgeMusic – What is ‘Direct-to-fan’?

With a new fresh change to their website, integrating an easy to look at and navigate design, PledgeMusic have put emphasis on the fact that they are a ‘direct-to-fan’ platform instead of a ‘crowd-funding ‘ one. My curiosity guided me to research a bit into what the ‘Direct-to-fan’ approach actually involves and I really liked what it’s all about so I decided to share it with you.

Pledge’s new motto – ‘Music as it happens’

Benji Rogers – President & Founder of PledgeMusic:
“I’m a fan of crowdfunding, but it’s not always the correct tool to use for music”

Different to “crowdfunding” campaigns the new PledgeMusic campaigns look a lot more like artist profiles on which they can offer exclusive limited edition merchandise, only available through the campaign, which can carry on for quite a while. Through it artists can offer a look behind the scenes, taking their fans on a journey into the artistic process and an giving them an opportunity to be a part of it experiencing ‘music as it happens’.

This changes the fan’s perspective on a campaign as instead of funding it they are purchasing exclusives available only through the campaign, which then contributes to the project. On the topic of money, you will be able to see that on PledgeMusic the money raised by an artist is displayed as a percentage. This takes the focus away from the monetary part of the project, and focuses on how close the artist is to achieving it.

A tool for discovering new music

With figures showing that 40% of people who have pledged on a project pledge on other projects afterwards, it can be argued that people use PledgeMusic as a platform for new music discovery. Therefore instead of just going on the website investing in a project and leaving, they get caught in the experience, discovering new artists, becoming a part of their projects.

This is further strengthened by the fact that PledgeMusic projects must be approved before going live. This means that the platform offers only high standard projects making sure they are satisfying those users which want to experience new music.

A Direct-to-fan journey into music

Providing one-to-one help to artists on their projects and encouraging the constant flow of updates in any form (blogs, videos, audio etc.), the PledgeMusic team make sure that artists make the best out of their campaigns offering their fans a Direct-to-fan journey into music.