pouët.net

I think it'll be interesting to see if this crowd funding concept works for artists without any previous mass media exposure. In theory, you just need one rich fan to be your patron/sugar daddy. ;)

@tomaes: Indeed. In practice, however, I need a small contribution from a lot of poor fans, including you. :) So far, we have collected €1204 from 28 backers in the first three days alone. Who says the internet isn't mass media?

@Defiance: me too. what do you think i'm doing here?

there making some money

here some making art

Not particularly...

But good luck, and fuckings to people who don't think you should be allowed to break out of the scene and into the real world (where you need money to do things).

@Defiance: NVidia offered us hardware for the invitation right from the start. We didn't make this thing for free, but that isn't the important lesson here.

There was an incentive to finish the project because Temis depended on us. The reason why it got so good was that I was scared shitless of disappointing him and his company. I really wanted to make good.

After Masagin got finished, I fell into a deep hole. I had a lot of trouble finishing anything because I lost the ability to do it without anyone asking for it. I started a gazillion things, and whenever doubts came (like "who needs this, anyway?"), I couldn't continue.

So with The Album, I'm cheating myself. We are generating an imbalance where we owe to the expectations of our generous donors. The result is that I'm scared enough to really care about it, and any doubt in its importance is eradicated by the massive amount of cash people have given to us in good faith. I can't start to tell you how much adrenaline this is already generating.

paniq: ok i respect that. at least you explained yourself well there.

@gasman: if it's not rare, why haven't i heard about this site? we collected all possible sites on Twitter two weeks ago, and I tell you, it's still not common to do it this way, but it starts to become the only way.

Also, be very careful how much these sites charge for their fundraising services. Kickstarter wants 5%. IndieGoGo takes 9%. Sellaband, which is very much alike AKAmusic (afaik), charges a whopping total of 25%, which translates to "assfucking artists who know shit about money".

Pledgie just puts the money through to PayPal. It's just two guys who work on this site non-profit based. I built my own site on top of Google App Engine, and they've been tremendously helpful with everything I needed (giving me insider API infos and such). So next time you're going to raise something, consider Pledgie.

PayPal charges about 2,5% + $0.30 per transaction, which, with large donations, is still better than Kickstarter, who don't even have PayPal support.

Also, the models are different. Kickstarter and Sellaband work tipping-point based, that is, in order to transfer the money, the goal must be met first. Pledgie and IndieGoGo directly transfer the money, which puts more risk on the donor.

Hum,. I still find this a little bit weird, but everyone is entitled to their own ways of fundraising I guess. What I do appreciate is that you took the time to answer each and every post. That at least shows you care, so good luck with the project, I hope you raise enough cash.

That AKA-music site is really laughable, like most that operate in such ways (Sell-a-band etc)

Haha :) If anyone is really considering this, please give me a call first, I'll arrange for a better deal with all the same benefits and productional quality :)

@numtek: at first i was a bit depressed, but now i'M happy at least someone manages to be tough on me so i get a chance to defend myself. it's the worst thing when people just walk away in prejudice.

The idea is fun but you can't avoid the "who are you btw?" comments and I really hope you know about it else you'll feel really bad.

@knl: right. i am my work. :)

ne verdammt gute idee um sich selbst anzutreiben und dabei noch erfahrungen zu sammeln. ich hoffe ihr habt von anfang bis ende auch noch spaß dran. drück euch beide daumen und mein dicken zeh =)

@relias abardon: So ist es! Vielen Dank :)!

well, after viewing these comments and after rereading carefully the project's goal i clearly see paniq's devotion to his work and i believe that sth quite good will emerge from it in the very end. Good luck with the project and hope my fair criticism did not hurt your feelings quite much... ;-)

Well I don't get it at all somehow, but best of luck with it, and I'm very interested to see what comes out in the end :)

Btw, dividing your funds so far by the number of donors, it seems the average donation is quite high.. do you see that, or do you get many small amounts plus a few huge ones? And who is paying a lot, do you know? is it fans, or random people on the internet?

One thing that crossed my mind: What are the tax laws regarding funds like this?

tomaes: No idea about Germany but I think donations are non-taxable as long as the work done is not-for-profit. However in this case it is for profit as the album will be sold starting on January 1, 2011 (from what I get…) so I think in this case paniq has to declare this fundraiser as his for-profit corporate backing and taxable, unless he wants to play cats & dogs with the German tax authorities.

It's the same system as a venture capital, only this time the venture capital is a bunch of guys on the Internet.

...your last album? How can you tell? And if you can, why?

Ok, if you succeed in doing the "most remarkable" album, then there is nothing more to achieve I guess and you`ll have to find yourself new goals...

But the title alone causes a lot of pressure and expectations, doesn`t it? Even if the outcome is just "good", its a failure in that context...

...but back then, there was that guy who said the world is a ball and not plane...or that guy who climbed the Everest for the first time...

You say it, you`ll make it, I won`t begrudge your success.

So have fun and good luck

The title has no pressure or expectations at all. Whether it's the most remarkable or not is totally subjective, and comes down completely to opinion. I think if this album gets made purely on donated money, to paniq that's going to make it the most remarkable album in the world already. You don't have to agree with him, but it's still going to be true :)

Besides, since when have album titles been taken seriously?

Thank you paniq for lots of nice music over the years, but i'm not sure I want to donate if this will your last album. ;)

@relias abardon: vielen dank :)

@Defiance: no, not too much. thanks a lot :)

@tomaes, Decipher: we will only sell the physical copies, the digital download will be free. that's the entire point: making a gift for society. additionally sold physical copies will most likely have to be taxed. all the donation money counts as "Schenkung", which does not have to be taxed until a threshold of €20,000. from then on, it's 30%.

@Skyrunner: well, we said "most remarkable", not "awesome super perfect", which leaves a lot of room for interpretation. But the main idea is to make something that you really want to talk about with others more than anything else, and where the title is exactly what it says on the tin. But yes, after that album, I think I'm done with music ;)

@psonice: right. it's already most remarkable because it's fan-funded and free. but i want to take the project title seriously, and really care about what we do in the context.

@neptun: either way, you're screwed %) but one screwing is less entertaining than the other ;)

Maybe I`d better looked up "remarkable" in a dictionary....thought it means something like "awesome super perfect", it does not of course...

Skyrunner: Indeed :)
paniq: I think the title is good, it attracts because at first glance it looks like terrific ego-boasting, but when you think about it it's not really that, which by itself makes the whole think indeed remarkable :)

TORRENT PLZ