Nigel is a bit of a force to be reckoned with – he’s a multi talented musician, DJ, producer, tour organiser/booker, and general all-around awesome guy. And now, he’s turned his hand to balkan / gypsy music. We’re big fans here in the PledgeMe office, so we decided to have a chat to Nigel about his experience so far, what motivated to crowdfund, and how the first pledgers off the blocks were.
Why did you decide to crowdfund?
I figured a Gypsy Fever CD would have a good chance on Pledge Me as over the last 5 years the Gypsy Fever shows have built up quite a fanbase around New Zealand and reached many people. I have quite a few contacts from running Monkey Records over the years plus there are over 60 musicians featured across the 12 bands on the album who can push it out to their networks. Also, pressing CDs these days is a bit of a risky business so being able to pre-sell them is definitely a good way of gauging demand.
How you’ve found the experience so far?
So far the experience has been great but it’s been a bit harder than I thought to squeeze money out of people. It’s not really a matter of putting the project up, posting about it on Facebook and kicking back – you have to work quite hard to reach as many people as possible. At the moment I’m still quite optimistic about reaching the goal but I can see it possibly getting a bit tense towards the end. Apologies in advance to all my friends for the pestering they are about to receive.
Who was the first person to pledge?
The first four pledges on day one were all from people I didn’t know who had also pledged on other projects so it’s great to know that there are people out there actively seeking stuff to support. Ann Smith was the first off the mark – thank you to Ann and the other pledgers to date and thanks to the future pledgers for having the wisdom and foresight to support this cool project and make it happen. Thanks also due to Pledge Me for providing a great service!
His project runs through til 19 November, so pledge on it here.
