Thursday, February 20, 2014

Colby Stiltz - "Down to Earth" Kickstarter



Props to Vermont ex-pat Colby Stiltz for refusing to half-ass his crowdfunding: to launch his next album "Down to Earth" properly, he's looking for a five figure budget. Although this is one of the larger Kickstarter campaigns I've seen, it's also one of the most realistic. The cost of doing quality work is huge, and most artists in VT operate on slower schedules than we'd like thanks to budget constraints.

Music is wicked expensive. This simple truth has kept the "Music Industry" alive and well despite 10 years of hype about their impending death. They have scale, they have resources, you do not. A local engineer / drinking buddy who had no interest in speaking on the record told me "You could spend ten grand just on your album, the beats, the sessions, the mix and master. Easy." Folks like him are wary about talking prices in public, and for good reason, too. Artists have no realistic concept of what their money entitles them to, what they themselves need to deliver, and what constitutes a reasonable payment schedule.

So yeah...design, videos, promotion...it adds up fast. Colby Stiltz is going big, and I think it's dope to be transparent about how much that really costs. The kids have to know.

No comments: