Songs for Christchurch have done it! Thanks to a massive 181 Pledgers, they have managed to raise a whopping $7880. In part, this is thanks to their rocking rewards ranging from a signed Tim Finn album to a Flight of the Conchords poster. The final few hours were a social media furor, and their massive last minute pledging sprint raised over $4,000 in the final day.
Now that they’re funded, Jessie and her team can now put the finishing touches on their album which was created to raise money for Christchurch. The album in itself is pretty special. Through the support of Architecture for Humanity in San Francisco, they gained the support of international artists including Imogen Heap, Amanda Palmer and Flight of the Conchords. Considering Amanda Palmer’s recent crowdfunding success, her coming on board was particularly special! The support from artists in New Zealand was pretty overwhelming as well. The project co-creator, Barnaby Bennett, has been in and around the kiwi music scene for years “I’ve worked in … things like the Jazz Festival, Cuba Street Carnival, Newtown Festival, Design Balls, so have quite a few contacts in the NZ Music scene”. And he was able to use those amazing contacts to help generate rewards around the project.
The CD will have a range of new songs and previously released ones, including a couple of new songs from Mara Tk and Greg Johnson, and the Flight of the Conchords song has only been previously released as a bonus track.
We asked the Songs for Christchurch Team about their crowdfunding experience, and this is what they had to say:
What did you like about pledgeme?
The team are very helpful and you feel empowered to sort out your funding without relying on the govt
How did you find the experience?
Very straightforward, it was my second pledgeme, so I felt more confident this time around
Any tips for newbies?
Having interesting ‘one off’ rewards that people can only get on the pledgeme available. Albums are great, but a signed poster is better.
I say crowdfunding, you say:
Who needs CNZ…..seriously. Pledgeme is far easier than writing funding application!
Keep an eye out for the album which is coming out very soon and do your bit to support Christchurch!
