Music Fans are Mad for Justice
Mad for Justice has been performing original rock music in New York City for the past year. The band members in various combinations have played together in other successful bands in NYC. Mad for Justice blends together elements of modern/alternative rock, funk, classic rock, and R&B into our own distinctive sound. We get fantastic audience reactions at our live performances. We are recording a 3 song EP of three crowd-favorite songs so we can share our music with more people. The producer on this project has over 20 years music industry experience, and formerly worked for major label EMI Music Group as a producer and director of A&R talent development. We are very excited that he hears the qualities in Mad for Justice’s music to resonate with new listeners who will hopefully become fans. Support has been very good from our friends, family, and local fans of Mad for Justice. The key now is to spread the good word about our music to new listeners in New York City and around the world. The music industry today has many talented, creative people competing for the attention and support of fans. Connecting with the people who are excited about new music and willing to contribute to a top quality studio recording is the big challenge. Many music fans are not familiar with how dramatically the music industry, major label record companies, and independent artists have changed over the past decade. In the world today, crowdfunding is an essential component for aspiring artists to take their music to the next level. We are extremely grateful for each and every contribution in support of our studio recording. For our Mad for Justice EP project video, we feature a live performance recording. Very real, very raw … no post-production whatsoever. It gives a glimpse into the energy and musicianship of the band, and to the exuberant audience reaction. We have seen other projects with video’s that talk about their project and provide some personal insights into the artists. Some of them are very clever and engaging. Perhaps that type of focus is better for introducing the artists and attracting new supporters. Our advice is to look at the video and written presentation of other projects for ideas, and go with whatever approach feels right for you. We wish everyone the best in fulfilling their dreams! -Phil Reeves, Guitarist, Mad for Justice Founder
- March 21, 2013
Grow - Teaching Creatives to be Entrepreneurs
I got involved in feminist and social justice organizing, making zines and playing in indie and punk bands as a teenager. As I grew up and became an “adult” in this community I realized the people around me were incredibly motivated and had great ideas for independent projects, but lacked the resources they needed to organize themselves and get started to build a sustainable project or, if they had started, were unsure of how to take the next step towards sustainability and profitability without compromising their creative ideals. I have worked for many years in arts education and administration and earned my degree Masters in Public Administration and I decided I wanted to translate the skills I learned about strategic planning, management, budgeting and marketing for organizations for creatives, like my friends and community members who were involved in independent music, art, publishing, social justice and food scenes. Driving this project is my vision of an economy that supports creative people. I imagine a time when creatives feel they have access to the skills and resources to find what they need to help them make their vision for a project or business become a sustainable, satisfying part of their lives. While pursuing your creative vision and dream will always be a risk, I want to make sure that people know how to find and make a reward for taking that risk! It’s really exciting and empowering to run a fundraising campaign for a project that is so close to my heart that I’ve worked on in private for quite a long time. I’m enjoying the opportunity to “go public” with Grow and using my RocketHub campaign as a platform to share and spread the word about the project. At first I was nervous, because while I’ve been asking for support from my community for years in terms of attending my band’s shows or coming to art openings, this crowdfunding campaign is the first time I’ve asked them directly for monetary support. In my day job I’ve helped hundreds of artists design and implement fundraising campaigns, but this is the first time I’m running a campaign that directly supports my project. I’ve found that Grow is really tapping into the zeitgeist and many people are coming to realize that artists and creative people need resources to learn how to support themselves and think more strategically and entrepreneurially. My supporters are happy that Grow is a resource that will help other creatives. Many who are artists themselves and have told me, “I really need this book!” I’ve found that running a crowdfunding campaign gives the community members who I have build relationships with over the years a chance to get involved in the project and they are excited to do so. In addition, it’s brought together people from very different parts of my life and I love that! My supporters are responding really positively and also it’s opened up a chance to catch up with far flung contacts and find out about their creative endeavors. I feel this campaign is an opportunity that will keep on giving because of the connections that I am making! For success, first of all, pay it forward. Be a generous, responsible, trusted community member. Support others’ projects with your time, energy and ideas. When you are planning your campaign think big about your project and the wider, farther reaching impact it can have. Grow is not just a how-to book, but a chance to build a movement of empowered, independent creative entrepreneurs and take the next step in my career as someone who supports their growth. Once you define what the larger goal of your project is you can bring that out in your video, pitch and press materials so that your supporters feel there’s a purpose for them to get involved. I was also sure to prime my close network of supporters by letting them know about the book and my plans, hopes and goals for the year about a month before the campaign launched. That way when I told them about the campaign and invited them to support it they knew it was part of a larger plan for my life and not just a one-off project. On the practical side, I’ve found that approaching people directly, through individual emails, or meeting them in person, engaging them in conversation and handing them a flyer with information about Grow and the campaign has been really effective. Overall, I’d say keep the your campaign positive and personal and connect it back to your larger goal and vision. Communicate that vision regularly to your supporters and would-be supporters. Finally, have fun with your campaign! Get excited, because building support and community is awesome! - Eleanor Whitney, Educator, Arts Programmer & Manager, and Musician
- March 19, 2013
Magic Mirror - Crowdfunding a New Product
I’ve been building vision enhancing devices for the motorsport community since 1991. In fact, these devices have been used to win National and World Championships by such famous racers as Michael Schumacher (and many others) in Formula One, John force and Kenny Bernstein in NHRA, and racing legends Wayne Rainey and Eddy Lawson as well as many current racers in MotoGP. I had one of these devices on my bathroom mirror to allow me to shave after a shower but never really thought about the larger consumer market at large until I went to a Tony Robbins seminar in July of 2012 call “Unleash The Power Within”. Immediately after leaving this seminar I realized I needed to bring this technology to the larger consumer market and went straight to my Patent Attorney. We applied and received two provisional patents on this new concept I call Magic Mirror™. While Magic Mirror™ uses the same technology right off of Formula One tracks the patents addressed a completely novel use of the technology. I’ve participated in crowdfunding as a backer several times before, but this is my first time seeking crowdfunding for one of my own projects and I’m quite excited about it. Crowdfunding can provide the consumer an opportunity to play a large role in the development and launch of products they desire. I believe this intimate relationship opportunity between product developers and their prospective customers can result in a much higher quality experience and level of satisfaction for the consumer. They know they played an important role in bringing a product to life and typically are rewarded for their early adapting by receiving significant value, special awards not available to the traditional consumer and an excellent price. While I’m quite pleased about the initial response to our project from our supporters, it is clear that the trick to crowdfunding is (like everything these days) to a large extent based on the projects exposure. We will be working hard over the coming days to push out the availability of this opportunity to as many prospective backers as possible through traditional and social means. For success, I would say this - look for innovative products that show promise and that excite you personally. Be aware that as in all product development, unforeseen issues may arise that can delay the release dates the project developer anticipated, so please be patient. But enjoy the process! You are helping birth a new product and you can take great satisfaction in this intimate relationship with the project. As for me, I thank all my backers and supporters deeply and appreciate deeply every single dollar funded. - Richard Marlin, Inventor, Product Developer, Entrepreneur
- March 14, 2013
RocketHub CEO Presents at SXSW 2013
From March 8-17, SXSW® 2013 will feature ten days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, and an unbeatable lineup of special programs showcasing the best innovative ideas the international community has to offer. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW® is the premier destination for discovery. For those in Austin for SXSW this year, be sure to catch RocketHub CEO Brian Meece presenting Crowdfunding 2.0 – The Game Changer today, on Tuesday March 12th, room 9ABC, at The Austin Convention Center. The discussion begins at 2 PM, Central Time. The focus of the presentation will be crowdfunding and The JOBS Act, with Dan Satorius from Lommen Abdo Law Firm/Satorius Law Firm moderating. - The RocketHub Team
- March 12, 2013
The New Jersey Young Artist Piano Competition Finds Support
Competitions play an essential role in the development of pianists. They motivate us to learn repertoire at a very high level and perform them, under pressure, for an educated jury. It is also a necessary forum for any musician hoping to have a career in performance. Having participated in many competitions ourselves, we have had a wide spectrum of experiences. We were provided performance opportunities, orchestral debuts, a chance to mingle with other musicians, as well as cash prizes. However, we also had to deal with numerous rejections, overly-competitive colleagues, cold and distant administrations, and unhelpful and disheartening criticism. Our vision for the New Jersey Young Artist Piano Competition is to provide a competition that embraces the aspect of education for all applicants. Our masterclass/seminar component is unique to local piano competitions and allows participants a sneak-preview of life as a music major. In addition, we will continue to support these gifted young artists beyond the competition through mentoring, advising, and encouraging them throughout various stages of their development. We want NJYAPC to be a fun and memorable experience for all the applicants, not a traumatic one that will turn them off to the very idea of a competition. This is our first crowdfunding project and we were overwhelmed by the positive feedback from our supporters. Historically, musicians have been funded primarily by generous patrons or institutions. We feel that in the 21st century, that trend is shifting towards crowdfunding due to the accessibility of the internet. Through our efforts, we hope to prove that crowdfunding is a highly effective way for non-profit organizations to fundraise and gain community support. We are so thankful for RocketHub’s easy-to-use and attractive interface, well-informed and helpful team, and simplicity in its goal: to help up-and-coming pioneers realize their dreams. Our advice for crowdfunding success: 1. Have clear goals and communicate them on RocketHub for your supporters to see. As a non-profit organization, it is important to develop complete transparency; we allow supporters to see exactly where their money is going. 2. Be ready to invest a lot of time! Before you launch your project, do a lot of research. RocketHub provides lots of free information, which we read and re-read. 3. Don’t be afraid to ask people individually. Promoting your fundraiser on your Facebook profile or Twitter is a great way to spread the word, but the majority of the donations we received were from people we asked individually through Facebook messages or e-mail. 4. Keep your funders up-to-date. Let them know that you’ve been working hard for the organization and for them. 5. Just go for it! - The New Jersey Young Artist Piano Competition Team
- March 11, 2013
Preserving Space History - Crowdfunding the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project
The inspiration was that I had been working with some of the lower quality film versions of the Lunar Orbiter images (located here) during the 1980’s and found out that the original data had never been directly digitized from the ground station tapes. In 2007 by accident I read a blog where the archivist from Lunar Orbiter was giving away the last remaining tape drives that could read the data. I used to run a television studio in Los Angeles so I knew something about the hardware and so we got in touch with her and she gave us the drives. I have a lot of NASA contacts and since we were looking at going back to the Moon and NASA was building a new spacecraft to map Mars, the stars kinda aligned in our favor to undertake the project. Beyond that I am a historian of technology. Just think how much better off we might be today if the Library at Alexandria, which had over 200,000 scrolls from all over the world, had been saved from burning. What if we had the design plans for the Great Pyramid, the engineering drawings for Roman buildings, and the brilliant work of Greek mechanical engineers? In our own era, 50% of all movies made before 1950 have been lost, and there was a lot of data that the American taxpayers paid billions of dollars for from the Apollo era, including our lunar orbiter images, that were in danger of being lost. Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat its mistakes and by keeping this original science alive, we are making our contribution for our future. In some ways gratifying and in some ways maddening. We have had amazing publicity and support in the media and from people all over the world for our project as our data is provided free to the world and provided to NASA for archiving. We have been on the front page of the LA times, our images have been shown to president Obama, been provided in the inaugural swag bags, and we have talked to people all over the world about our project. You would think that we would easily be able to reach our goal as all it would take is 7,500 people putting up $10 dollars. However we are almost two weeks into the project and we are no where near our goal. It turns out that there is a gap between people’s interest and enthusiasm for a project and taking that next step to going to RocketHub and putting in the credit card number! It takes a lot of personal effort in calling people, asking them to actually donate and then leading them by the hand to the site. Crowdfunding does not just magically happen, it takes hard work and persistence to make it successful. In reading your tips on how to make a project successful it seems that we are following pretty much the path that your own experience shows to be the case for raising funds this way. There is no magic formula for making money appear through donations. The formula is pretty much the same as for any business raising funds. Offer something for the donation that gives a tangible connection. Work hard, call your friends, neighbors, and anyone else that you can think of. Putting out a press release or even favorable publicity is not enough on its own. During the course of your fundraising, especially if the number is in the tens of thousands, you have to work every day to get people to go to the site and actually put in that credit card number. - Dennis Wingo, Founder of the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP)
- March 8, 2013
The Hippo Kitchen: Let Food Be Thy Medicine…
Angela: As a personal chef who works with people who want to address their health concerns using the food they eat, I have had the opportunity to cook for people undergoing cancer treatment. I began to ask myself how to make the food I was making for them available to people who don’t have a personal chef—either because they don’t know one, can’t afford one, or whatever the case may be. Prepared meals comprised of ingredients that have been studied in regards to the impact they have on cancer cells or the side effects of cancer treatment seemed like something that could potentially benefit a lot of people. The Hippocrates quote “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” is pretty emotionally impactful for me. And so, a Hippo was born! Megan: We have had a great response from both our friends and family. People have been incredibly generous and a few people have really blown us away with the contributions they have made. We are so very fortunate! In addition, we have received contributions from complete strangers who just believe in what we are doing and want to be part of it. And the fun goodies that come along with the contributions aren’t too shabby either! Angela: The response has been amazing. Honestly, we have gotten the most generous donations from the least expected places. $250 from my best friend who just paid for her own wedding. $100 from another friend who is putting himself through his first year of law school. So many examples of people going above and beyond what seems reasonable. Megan: We have had a lot of success with personal emails to our friends and family explaining what we are doing and what we are crowdfunding for. I think people like to have that personal connection to the creator(s) of the project and are more willing to contribute if you make that connection. We have also had great success with social media and asking all our friends and family to share our RocketHub link on their personal Facebook pages, twitter, etc. Another piece of advice would be to try and get some local exposure about the project. This opens your project up to a much larger crowd that wouldn’t have known about it otherwise. - Angela Anderson and Megan Geist, Founders of Hippo Kitchen, Crowdfunding Entrepreneurs
- March 6, 2013
From Toronto, Sandra Taylor Makes the Piano Sing
True love, dreams, beyond dreaming, the point where birth and death meet, the everyday extraordinary; these have been the inspirations for the album that I am fundraising for on RocketHub. Music has the capacity to transport us into the timeless realm and that is one aspiration that I hope the music achieves as I share it with others through this album project. It is also an album born out of my life in an urban city environment, my personal creative response to where I’m at in life. It’s very emotional and visual music—my voice tells a story through sound. This is a new experience for me! I feel that the crowdfunding model is not just about the opportunity to ask for financial support, but also about celebrating what I’m doing, sharing it with other dreamers out there who are willing to listen and be moved or not moved. My funders so far are responding mostly wanting the album—straight out supporting the tunes. I just had the chance to share a meditation technique with a funder as well, and found this very meaningful. I’ve received a lot of encouragement and congrats from friends I’ve shared it with. It is touching when people support something that is so close to my heart. Now and I’m looking at finding out ways of staying engaged with the music and enjoying the process. If I were to advise myself, I would say something like “Listen to your heart.” “Find someone/s to help direct your campaign or help organize it with you” “Read the rockethub success pamphlet before starting!!” and “Find things that are natural to you and that you get engaged by (writing, events, goods, etc.) because your own interest is what drives the platform. People sense it when you’re being true to yourself. If you’re anything like me you will get overwhelmed and have a flip out or several of them. Chill out, keep going, and ask friends and/or family for support because the solutions are probably easily found. - Sandra Taylor, Creative Lady, Inner explorer, Dreamer, Dancer, Lover, Songstress, Yogini, Wonderer and Wanderer, Nature-Lover
- March 5, 2013
Making Work Healthy - Active Desk Crowdfunds Production
At the 2011 American College of Sports Medicine conference the topic of sedentary physiology received a lot of attention. After the meeting I read up on the topic and learned that most of the calories expended, even by people who exercise regularly, are related to general movement, not to formal exercise. This “general movement” is referred to as non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). There is growing evidence that the wave of obesity currently developing is related to decreases in NEAT. In fact, time spent in sedentary behavior is an independent risk factor for heart disease, even in people who engage in regular exercise. This really grabbed my attention because when I sit down to work I used to get very comfortable and might not move a muscle for hours at a time. So I started looking into ways to increase my personal NEAT during the work day. First, I tried working while walking on a treadmill. That didn’t work well for me. I found I couldn’t type and couldn’t control the mouse very well; not to mention that walking on a treadmill without paying attention can be very dangerous. So then I tried simply standing up to work at a taller desk, but found this was uncomfortable for my back, feet, and calves. My solution was to build an integrated recumbent exercise bike and computer workstation. My initial prototypes were crude but functional. Right away I found that I was able to type normally and burn an average of over 700 kcals per day. When pedaling on my Active Desk, power is generally in the range of 40-60 watts, an intensity that doesn’t feel like exercise; no sweating and no heavy breathing. Even so, low intensity does add up over time. I truly and passionately believe that Active Desk can be a major part of the cure for the obesity epidemic currently spreading across the world. My inspiration? I would like to improve the health of Americans with Active Desk. I imagine a future in which office workers and students across America pedaled throughout their work and school days. Obesity would be reduced to levels of 50 years ago. Health would improve and health-care costs would plummet. My mission is to facilitate physical activity and save the world from the dangers of sedentary lifestyles. I would say our experience has been a positive one. Surprisingly or perhaps not so surprising is the fact that 90% of our fund raise has come from people that are directly within our sphere of influence. Roughly 10% of the raise has, however, come from people outside our network who we do not know at all or know very little. Also, some thing surprising is the fact that these close relationships that we have who have given us 90% of our goal have not come from cyclist or fitness consciousness people, thus demonstrating that our close relationships trump fitness and cyclist enthusiasts in terms of who is actually willing to open their wallets and donate to such a project as ours. My advice would be to get as many close friends and relatives, as well as many people with large, wealthy networks as possible to participate in the getting the word out. In our small and limited experience, we have seen that the success of fund raising on RocketHub is directly tied to the size and wealth of your center of influence as well as the centers of influence of those closely tied to the project. - Jim Martin, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Active Desk Team Leader
- March 1, 2013
Shannon McNally and Dr. John Make Musical Magic
Bobby Charles was a friend of mine. He was also an incredibly influential though relatively unrecognized founding father of Rock and Roll. His easy, dry wit and impossibly melodic songs got under the skin of American music. He was a reclusive purist who didn’t crave fame or fortune so he has been sorrowfully overlooked. Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack aka The Night Tripper is also a friend and mentor of mine. He is a piano player from New Orleans as well as a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. Bobby did an album in the late 1960’s with The Band in Woodstock, New York that was one of my all time favorites. For a long time it was unavailable. I connected with them both at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2007 and we talked about recutting many of those songs so they wouldn’t be lost. Bobby is a bit of a cult figure in music collector circles. Miraculously it all came together. My crowdfunding experience has been really good. I try and offer an experience more than a tangible thing. Crowdfunding allows people to participate in the creation of something. Creating makes people feel good and unfortunately none of us get to do enough of it. Running an artist owned label is like trying to survive on only food that you grow yourself - it at times takes more work than seems physically possible and you have to pray for rain. My supporters are the rain Gods. I figure if it’s meant to get made they’ll let me know. We’re in this together. Music is a spiritual commitment…a 99 cent download is just a little wrapper. Like water and love, music has been taken for granted. The idea of taking care of it and giving it more attention appeals to people I think. At least it does to me, it does to Mac Rebennack and it did to Bobby Charles. For success, make good music and work with elders. Be gracious and remind people who can’t give you money that good thoughts count as well. Music is a service industry or at least it should be. - Shannon McNally, Prolific Singer, Songwriter, & Crowdfunding Innovator
- February 27, 2013
