Crowd Puller

“When I was no longer with Something Relevant,I knew I was leaving a fan base of around 20,000 people. I wanted to make my own album but had to reach out to people for that. Now it feels awesome because I’m finally going to be able to do it,” says the 27-year-old vocalist who has already begun working on his album.

Printer is amongst a new generation of musicians who are turning to the masses directly,reaching out to them for money to cut an album,or to fund a concert or a tour,using online ‘crowdfunding’ platforms such as wishberry.in. Crowdfunding is quite popular in the West,on websites such as kickstarter.com and indiegogo.com. But,in India,the idea is still emerging. Very few artistes have taken the leap of faith and placed their requests for funds online. And even fewer have met their desired targets successfully.

Singer-songwriter Vasuda Sharma first heard of crowdfunding while she was studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston,USA. “Everyone there was crowdfunding for their projects,for music,for books,for charity. I thought it was worth a try,” she says. She collected over Rs 5,60,000 to fund her new album Attuned Spirits on wishberry.in. Sharma’s new album,Attuned Spirits is funded almost entirely by collections from her fans. “It’s nice to see that people are willing to support independent artistes and that they believe in our music,” she says.

But if it sounds like artistes can just lay back and wait for the money to pour in,it’s far from the truth. “I was nervous from the beginning. Through the 60 days,I would panic every day,wondering whether it was ever going to work out. It is a painstaking task,” says Printer,adding that it’s still better than running from friend to friend,asking for money. “There is an honesty in reaching out to people and asking them for contributions. If they respond,it shows that they have faith in you,” he adds.

Crowdfunding gives the audience an opportunity to decide what kind of music they like and whether they want to support it. “If they enjoy someone’s work,they now have the power to help that musician make more music,” says Bhrigu Sahni,a former member of the rock band Khadki Junction Blues. Sahni recently collected $3,800 on indiegogo.com for his new album. “What this means for the music industry is that now artistes have greater creative freedom to make the music they want because they don’t have to depend on record labels,which often focus on music they think will sell. It also means that the audience now has a chance to choose what kind of music is out there,” he says.