Apologies if this has been discussed, but I haven't read anything about it. We all at least enjoy Devin's music, some of us fanatically so. Devin has mentioned in interview many times that if the revenue streams dry up, there can be no more music that's publicly available. Surely Devin has considered fan-funding the recording of his albums and I'm wondering why he doesn't go that route. Not even popular outfits like Kickstarter, but I wonder if even donations made directly to HevyDevy Records would be leagues and fathoms better financially than relying on the record label.

I'll use Deconstruction in this example. Granted, Deconstruction was not the average record. Paying different musicians including the Prague Orchestra, travel, etc, tremendously increased the cost. Devin said on the Deconstruction Commentary that making Deconstruction cost, close to $60k."

And I know Devin doesn't like the term "fan," but I'll use it here for the sake of simplicity.

EXAMPLE
- Deconstruction cost $60,000.
- Epicloud sold 4000 copies in 1st week (US).
- Assume 4000 fans donated $15 each. There's your $60,000 to cover the cost of recording the album.
- Yes, I know fans have already spent $15 and haven't even got a CD yet, but I'm sure a lot of us would gladly pay lots more for HevyDevy releases.
- CD sales beyond the 1st week are just pure profit since the recording was already paid for.

Again, this example uses the super-expensive Deconstruction record. If the average record costs $30,000, Devin could either retain the extra $$$ for future projects or reduce the cost of donations. Of course, income from touring and merchandise will still be there.

The purpose of all this is simply to easily fund the recording without going into debt. It cannot fix downloaders who don't buy CD's. But if the funding of the RECORDING is done without having to pay back a loan to the label, it just seems like he would be much better off financially.

Thoughts? REALLY looking forward to Casualties Of Cool.

Thanks, Jason

I've always personally thought Devin doing a Kickstarter or the like would be pretty cool. I'd love to help him be creatively free and help in the funding of new music.

This idea is growing gradually and I'm up for it, completely. I recently helped fund a Kickstarter album project but I wasn't bothered by having the physical copy so got the digital download which I imagine was even easier for the artist too because they didn't even need to produce the actual CD. But there's an extra thing, it's not just about the recording costs. The CDs have to be made, stored and distributed which costs money and there's also more extras like promotional stuff and music videos. Just saying that would also need to be added to your calculation.

I'm not poo-pooing the idea though because it can, and probably would, work really well, especially for an established artist like Devy. He has a lot of dedicated fans that would probably be up for getting the album + additional exclusive merch/collectables that could come with.

For sure, the fan-funding model may not cover all costs: making CD's, cover art, the lawyer giving the package a "once-over" to look for liabilities, copyrighting fees...whatever is involved.

But it appears that the bulk of the cost could be completely paid for. And with label funding, you still have all those extra costs (artist, lawyer, etc)...it's just that with fan-funding it's not recoupable by the label. It's not a loan that he would have to pay back.

http://www.hevydevyrecords.com/

You can donate for Devin on HeavyDevy Records web site. I've already done.
I think we should more spread this donation info.

The problem with funding sometimes is you need a credit card, which not everybody has. Paypal is all well and good, unless instant credit card payment is requested, then it defeats the purpose.

That said, donation might be a good idea, especially if it helps promote the work.

I'd get behind a kickstarter for Dev. It frees him from label constraints too, lets him do whatever he wants done.

If he ever decides to do one, I'll certainly support it.

Cool. I'm sure Devin has complete artistic freedom to release whatever style he wants, even with Inside Out Music. Fan-funding would just make recording financially easier and no loan/advances to pay back...it seems...I think.

Fan funding seems to be working for Ginger Wildheart in spectacular fashion: http://www.pledgemusic.com/artists/gingerwildheart

I don't see any reason it couldn't work for the Dev as well.

If Extol can raise $27,000 I know Dev can get close. Easily.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/extol-a-documentary

I suggested to Tracy long ago that Devin should try Kickstarter or PledgeMusic. There was something with one of them that made it difficult, but I forget what. Still, she seemed receptive to the idea, and honestly, crowdfunding is ideal for those mid-tier artists like Devin. Just look at how insanely successful it's been for Ginger (he's made well over a million dollars).

And if the artist does it right, by making it fan interactive, sharing demos and videos and behind-the-scenes nonsense, it's a really rewarding fan experience.

I can also be a terrible experience, as I saw recently with One Minute Silence's joke of a campaign. We were supposed to get a live in-the-studio, kind of raw in-your-face album and DVD. The band made all kind of promises for nearly TWO YEARS about getting to hear demos, see videos, and so on, and NONE of that happened. We got to hear one snippet of a demo, I believe, which was removed shortly after. There was some video of the guitarist doing acoustic songs, a rant by Yap, the singer, but there was no video of them in the studio or anything related to the new album. The band gave us nothing but excuses and failed promises the whole time. A new song next week! Which never happened. A new song next month! Which never happened. Video of us in the studio is coming! It didn't. A complete joke.

Worse, at some point the album because an EP. Seriously. The full-length album became an EP! And that EP was released the other day...and what a joke it is. Two new songs, one "re-recording" of an old song (and considering it's a note-for-note copy of the album version, my guess is that it's actually an old demo or studio take of the song), a remix of it, and a remix of one of the new songs. I pledged in July 2011 for a full-length album and DVD, $40 total, and I got, essentially, two songs. Pathetic. The band should be ashamed.

That said, I'm positive Devin would not do what One Minute Silence did in any manner. But the concept is perfect for him.

One Minute Silence did that?!?! Poor show man, I was a big fan of theirs; that's kinda made me lose a lot of respect for them.

I think the plan right now for the upcoming Ziltoid project is to fan-fund, it's still in it's infancy right now though so don't ask me any more...

One Minute Silence did that?!?! Poor show man, I was a big fan of theirs; that's kinda made me lose a lot of respect for them.

I think the plan right now for the upcoming Ziltoid project is to fan-fund, it's still in it's infancy right now though so don't ask me any more...

Yeah, it was real shitty of them. They're not the only ones to do shady stuff. I'm a big Charlotte Martin fan, so when she was putting together a little side-project, I had full intentions of supporting it, even though it was a ways outside the realm of what I like. But check these out:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/138 ... -patronage
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/138 ... completion

Both are for the same project. The first link failed in its funding, and with Kickstarter you don't get any money unless you reach your goal, unlike Indiegogo, for instance. But look at how much they wanted: $80,000! That's a lot of clams!

But here's the shady part. The campaign failed, so they immediately started a new one...for $20,000! The SAME EXACT campaign and all of a sudden they can do it for $60,000 less? Come on! Compare:

If our goal of $80,000 is funded, this is how we plan to use it:

-$30k for remaining recording costs.
-$20k for reward fulfillment (CD Manufacturing, throwing a release party, etc.).
-$30k for a 5k payment to each of the six band members for their musical contributions.

If our goal of $20,000 is funded, this is how we plan to use it:

-$10k for recording costs.
-$10k for reward fulfillment (CD's, T-shirts, etc).

All of a sudden they need $20,000 less to finish the recording and $10,000 less for reward fulfillment (though no incentives changed). Gone is the part about paying each member $5,000, which is bullshit in general, but even worse when the second campaign pretty much shows they were really looking for $10,000 each.

I understand wanting to be paid, but with this kind of thing the musicians should expect to get paid on the back end. Fans should not have to pay your salary upfront. We are consumers not employers.

Anyway, most campaigns I've participated in have been great. I never pledged for the Charlotte Martin thing, so my only bad experience has been with One Minute Silence. I have seen a ton of ridiculous campaigns, though, from an author wanting money so he can quit his job and write a (probably shitty) novel, to someone with admitted poor dental hygiene asking for money to fix his brown and yellow and rotting teeth sticking out of a fiery red and green

Devin has a lot of people behind the scenes who would ensure nothing like that would EVER happen.
Fan-funding has been taken into consideration for the Ziltoid project as it's a much more costly process than an album would be (artists, film-makers, studio hire, equipment, consumable resources etc.) and all of this stuff has to be paid for up front. It would enable Devin to not only see how the project will be received; but in combination with all the good exposure he's being given recently, it would ensure that he has enough funding to present the character to the public in a way that was unfathomable even just six years ago (Trust me on this one, it's gonna be fricking massive!!!! But that's all I'm saying on that.) without risking everything.

How do you know all this juicy inside stuff? =)

But I know how much goes into a big production. I'm currently working on a big anthology film project. It's a TON of work. If we added an album, a tour, and everything else that goes into music production, I'd die just thinking about it. Haha.