WHAT WE DO
THE NEW MASHUP :: MUSIC + MICROFINANCE
MICROFUNDO is changing the way the world finances music. We've taken the highly successful model of microfinancing and applied it to the independent music industry.
Our mission is to connect people through music & ensure that musicians earn a living from their art.
We represent the revolutionary end of the music industry. We are musicians, dancers and music lovers. We're supporting the entrepreneurial activities of independent musicians in hopes of creating genuine economic development and greater cultural awareness around the world. "If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams" - Yann Martel, Life of Pi
HOW DOES IT WORK?
MICROFUNDO functions as a collective of musicians and fans like you who are creating and defining their own music scene. It works in a similar manner to a food cooperative (co-op). At a food co-op you join with an annual membership which gives the coop a capital fund to buy healthy food in bulk for the whole community and offers you a discount on prices. You get healthier food at better prices than the mainstream supermarkets.
At MICROFUNDO your low-cost, annual membership enables us to act as a microfinance institute, creating a capital fund that we use to invest in artist projects. New recordings, new performances and tours are made possible for talented artists around the world.
And in return you reap MICROFUNDO membership benefits including:
- exclusive access to hundreds of FREE live album downloads as they are produced - a ton of great new music!
- discounts and first access to ticket sales for live events
- direct participation in creating the healthiest, most vibrant and prolific music scene you can imagine
- the satisfaction of helping artists from around the world earn a sustainable living from their art
FOR MUSIC FANS
You join Microfundo with a nominal (very low-cost) annual membership that creates a fund for the musicians and helps them produce a prolific catalog of new music recordings plus orchestrating more gigs and performance opportunities.When you join you designate an artist that you wish to support and your membership fee ($25) is allocated to that artist.
In return for your membership you are given exclusive access to FREE downloads of live recordings from all the artists in the Microfundo collective. You will have access to hundreds of albums of great new music as they are produced throughout the year. You will have direct access to artist updates, live show announcements and ticket discounts.
HOW TO GET STARTED
1. Register an account on Microfundo Registration is FREE2. Browse our Musician Campaigns
3. Choose an artist to support
4. Pay your $25 membership fee on the Artist's page (via Paypal or credit card)
Join now - it's FREE and easy! >>
OTHER WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
Become a Microfundo fan on Facebook
Follow Microfundo on TwitterFOR MUSICIANS
The overall goal of a Microfundo Artist Project is to develop a thriving community of fans and musicians – attracting many new people, who have never heard of you before, to become interested in your music.Basic Artist Profile and Artist Project
Your first Artist Project on Microfundo will produce a live recording. The live recordings produced via Microfundo are an important way for you to promote yourself and your music to the Microfundo fan community and to set yourself up for a successful major microfunding project. This first project will raise $1,000 and this money will pay for a series of artist services for you:
- Artist Collective Promotion via Twitter and Facebook
- Podcast Segment and Streaming Radio
- Syndication
- Live Recording
- Video & Studio Session
You will need to set up a profile page and also a project page. Your profile page focuses on you as an artist.
Example of typical project page: http://microfundo.mymondomix.com/sofiamusic
You can over time create a series of project pages
Example of typical project page: http://microfundo.mymondomix.com/sofiamusic/avantrio
1. Artist Collective Promotion and Fan Engagement on Twitter and Facebook
On Microfundo you become part of a collective of artist members whose music and style is similar to yours and whose fans are likely to fall in love with your music.
Twitter RTs (re-tweets)
As a member of one of our artist collectives you can post one of your significant activities (once each week) which will then be broadcast ‘retweeted’ to the other twitter member accounts in your collective.
If, for example, you have a collective group of 30 members and members of your group have an average of 500 followers, you will be reaching out to at least 15,000 fans each week.
Facebook Events
Each week Microfundo will create an ‘event’ type page featuring the activites of group members and these events will be shared on the wall of each group member’s ‘musician’ page. Typical ‘events’ include Microfundo live recording releases, podcast segment, free download offer, live show, etc.
Microfundo will manage the collective broadcasting of your group posts for you (on Twitter and Facebook) giving you greater reach with less work.
2. Podcast Segment and Streaming Radio
Microfundo will produce a Podcast Segment featuring you and your music. Both the segment and your music will stream via a microfundo radio player that will link directly to your profile page where your music can be found for sale. The intention is to create a genuine entertainment channel featuring microfundo artists that will allow fans to become familiar with your music and your personal story. Podcast example: http://microfundo.podomatic.com/
3. Syndication
I will direct Microfundo will syndicate your podcast segment via our other media outlets including National Geographic, Mondomix and the Microfundo blog.
Example of podcast segment on National Geographic: http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/view/page.basic/article/content.article/microfundo_promo/en
In addition Microfundo will submit your story to other media outlets for public radio airplay.
Example of Microfundo artist featured on PRI’s ‘The World’ : http://www.theworld.org/2009/10/27/sofia-rei-koutsovitis/
4. Live Recording
Microfundo will work with you to produce a live recording. The live recordings produced by Microfundo are an important part of the value proposition offered to fans. When a fan joins and allocates their $25 membership fee to an artist they are given access to download not only the live recording produced by the artist they support – but all the live recordings by every other Microfundo artist as they are produced throughout the year.
Live recordings as promotion: Grateful Dead and Technobrega
Microfundo is replicating the same kind of bootleg, live recording model first established by the Grateful Dead. Starting in the 1960’s the Grateful Dead allowed fans to record their live shows, make bootleg copies and sell those copies to other fans and keep all the money. Fans who agreed to do recordings were given the best seats at concerts and the recordings became collectors’ items and served to sell out the Grateful Dead shows in large arenas and make the band very popular.
In Northern Brazil – starting in the city of Belem – producers of a style of music called Technobrega began producing MP3 recordings of local bands and distributing them by given a master disc to the kids on the street who were selling other pirated CDs. They would tell the street sellers to copy their CD and sell for whatever price they could get and to keep all the money – And to be sure to tell everyone that bought a copy that the band on the CD had a show the following weekend. The Technobrega producers and bands are now touring all of Brazil and before they come to any city they distribute these MP3 CDs to an organized network of local street vendors – who sell many copies and promote the live show. Technobrega bands are the most successful artists in Brazil today.
Learn more about Technobrega: http://calabash.typepad.com/global_music_news/2008/06/tecno-brega-and.html
Similarly, Microfundo is producing live recordings and using them to promote each artist, to create an online entertainment channel that will make their music familiar to a large fan base, to promote live events and to promote the sale of other artist merchandise.
The basic elements of the live recording strategy include:
Single track giveaway from each artist – attractive invitation to fans for free registration
Live radio stream – makes it possible to create live recording ‘events’ and webcasts on facebook and twitter – increasing fan engagement and familiarity
Exclusive downloads of live recordings to members only - who support an artist project. Techno brega like distribution to increase reach and popularity of artist
5. Video & Live Studio Session – Babylonian Bandstand
Microfundo will select artists to participate in a video and live session recording in which the artist will record an original song. The recording will be used in an online ‘American Idol’ like competition in which fans can vote (via text message or via membership contributions) for their favorite artist. Artists will enter from city studios in several locations around the world – starting with Sao Paulo, Paris and Boston.
Some of the recording sessions will also have a dance component in addition to having the artist performing. A group of dancers will also perform on camera with their version of a local dance that goes with the music. This adaptation follows elements of the old ‘American Bandstand’ program in which bands played their hit single while young hipsters danced in front of the camera showing off the latest dance moves. The dance component promises to add another level of engagement allowing fans to watch and learn dance moves and styles from many different genres of music.
It will be important to promote the Babylonian Bandstand sessions as a more diverse and musically creative alternative to the narrow, pop-oriented music of the ‘American Idol’ and ‘American Bandstand’ shows.
6. Full Campaign – Studio Album
The culmination of all of the above (and the prize of the Global Bandstand winner) is a studio recording for a full album. As your visibility and popularity on the Microfundo site grows, Microfundo can work with you on a major microfunding project in support of your next studio album or concert tour. The Microfundo ‘fan club’ model means that fans can support a single artist repeatedly over several years – turning them into ‘true fans’.
Learn more about true fans: http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php
Your full Campaign can be set up with a range of fan offers.
Example of full campaign: http://microfundo.mymondomix.com/gregoriouribebigband/newalbum
You can make your campaign stand out from others – and attract them to allocate their membership fee to you - by making a special offer to fans who are entering as basic members – such as offering them a copy of your physical CD as an reward in addition to the other benefits of Microfundo membership.
How the Money Works
The membership fee from the first 40 members ($1,000) will go to Microfundo to pay for the various promotional work and labor costs involved in all of the above. All money raised by the artist beyond this amount goes directly to the artist and may be used for whatever music project the artist chooses.
by Mondomix.com, worldwide music and culture
