Kickstarter helps fund budding artists

FAYETTEVILLE — Clearly, there is money to be made from artistic endeavors, but at what cost to the artist?

Although artists may have opportunities to be seen and heard that were previously unavailable, independent musicians, writers, filmmakers, designers and artists often end up footing the bill for their projects.

In 2008, media and music idea men Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler and Charles Adler founded the website Kickstarter, which collects donations from the general public to subsidize specific projects purposed in the areas of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.

With particular guidelines in place, Kickstarter allows artists to outline their project, choose a deadline and target a minimum goal of funds they hope to raise. Donors make pledges through the website, and in turn are rewarded with offers from the artists, such as advance access to the project, autographs and other personalized incentives. If the monetary target is not met by the deadline, no funds are collected and the artist receives nothing.

Raising funds to fuel new CDs is a task that local songstress Shannon Wurst knows all too well. The production of her previous four recordings was paid out of her own pocket and with donations from some very generous fans. For her fifth CD, Wurst turned to Kickstarter to help with a portion of the expenses.

Wurst’s expenses for one CD includes 18 days of studio time, studio musicians, a producer, sound engineer, photographer, graphic designer and the duplication and manufacture of the album. (Puts the $10-$20 you spend on a CD into perspective, right?) Promoting and touring in support of the CD are also costs to consider. Wurst estimates her latest endeavor to cost $12,000, half of which she’s already raised on her own.

This type of fundraising is new, and some may find it in poor taste to directly ask for money.

“Is it hard to ask people for money? It can be,” said Wurst. “But I like to feel like I am offering people a service and I am making music for people to enjoy and love. And I’m just always appreciative when people are patient enough to wait for the music, several months after they’ve pledged their money.”

Wurst said she chose a Kickstarter campaign because it gives her fans a chance to be part of the artistic process; backing musical projects allows individuals to act the part of a record company.

“Not only is [Kickstarter] a credible website that people can go to if they’re not familiar with my music,  there’s a lot of people who will just go to the website and look for different projects to back,” said Wurst. “So they could stumble across my project and become a backer for it, or they also might find something else that they’d like to back.

“And I like the idea of artists merging together in a central location, even if it is online, to be able to kind of cross-promote each other,” she added.

Without funding from the Kickstarter campaign, it could take one to two years before she would have the money to start this fifth CD. She left Tuesday (March 27) for Bozeman, Mont., to begin recording at Basecamp Recording Studios.

The CD will feature 10-11 original songs and takes the southern folk songstress in a new direction. Fans will still be able to recognize her signature twang, but the new release will show a more soulful side, featuring more electric instrumentation than her previous acoustic forays. With the goal of a July release date, a tour to introduce the CD will take place, starting with shows in Fayetteville and Fort Smith.

By the time Wurst left for Montana, 115 backers had pledged $3,992 toward her $6,000 goal. Her campaign ends at noon Saturday (March 31). It’s an equal mix of friends/fans and complete strangers that have acted as backers, and Wurst said she is humbled and grateful for every cent.

In addition to helping independent artists fund projects, there are all sorts of fun incentives to be had by becoming a Kickstarter donor. By donating to Wurst’s campaign, there are CDs, personalized post cards from the road, songwriting sessions, an opportunity to be featured on the actual CD and even homemade jam up for grabs.