Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

Image: Dan Christie and David Howell  
© Jon Paulet 2024

When we decided to record our debut album, Songs of the Sea, we had to build everything from the ground up. Our first hurdle was funding a way to raise enough money. After some debate, we decided to go down the crowdfunding route - a fundraising tactic where large groups of people help you achieve a financial goal through a series of small personal donations, usually by donating through a personal fundraising page you set up yourself.

Having discussed our options, we agreed that crowdfunding would give us more control over how, where and when we released our album compared with a sponsorship or competitive grant. However, in January 2024, we weren't 100% sure if we had what it took to be successful, particularly as decided to go 'all or nothing' in setting our fundraising goal. Flash forward to June 2024, and not only have we funded our album - we have recorded and released it. Running a fundraising campaign wasn't straightforward though, it took a lot of consideration and work. In reflecting the most successful parts of our campaign, we felt there were six key elements:

1. We set a realistic fundraising target that allowed donors to see how their money would be spent

Before we even started our fundraising campaign, we wrote a full budget including everything it would cost to make our album, including:

• Rehearsal and performance costs for our session musicians
• Recording and engineering costs
• Editing and mastering costs
• Administrative and album distribution costs

This helped us set a realistic fundraising goal that made sure we wouldn't get caught short financially during the recording process. It also helped us be transparent with our donors, as we could show on our crowdfunding page exactly how their money was going to spent by through a high-level breakdown of the recording costs.

2. We wrote a compelling pitch about why we were recording an album

When writing our fundraising pitch, we didn't just think about what we were doing, but why. We clearly stated that our goal in recording Songs of the Sea was to reach a bigger audience and inspire more performances of our work, and that this album was the beginning of that journey. This approach was particularly useful in soliciting donations from friends, family, many of whom had been encouraging to perform our work more often for years and were excited to support our work.

3. We 'soft launched'our fundraising campaign with our close networks

To make our crowdfunding campaign look successful from Day 1, we 'soft launched' it with close friends and family 24 hours before the official launch date. We did this by messaging family and friend in established group chats. Apart from helping us reach several people at once, this approach also built commitment from close friends and family, to donate to the campaign as a group. We raised almost 1/3 of our total fundraising goal before the campaign even started using this strategy, which meant we were already ahead when our campaign officially went live 24 hours later.

4. We used positive messaging on social media to expand and inspire our donor base

Sharing the campaign across our professional and personal social media channels was also another key element of our success. Using this tactic helped us bring in another 1/3 of our fundraising goal. While using these channels to expand our campaign's reach was an important element our success, the messaging we used to encourage donations was as, if not more, important. We made it clear when posting about the fundraiser on our social media channels how much time, energy, and passion we had put into writing Song of the Sea. This was a highly successful tactic, as it allowed people to understand how hard we had worked to get to this point, and why their donation was so important to us. It also inspired some generous donations from surprising and unexpected quarters. Our biggest donation of the entire campaign came from the parent of a friend who saw our post on Facebook and was motivated by our messaging to make large contribution.

5. We offered rewards with a personal touch

Successful fundraising campaigns generally offer small rewards as incentives to potential donors. As we knew close most of our donations would come from close family and friends, we felt it important to offer rewards that offered a personal touch. Our most popular reward was a personalised thank you videos message, which we recorded for every person who donated $50 or $100. Another popular prize was our Christie & Howell logo mugs, which allowed friends and family to show their support for our work. We also offered to write personalised song for people who donated $200 or more. We were shocked to see that four people selected this option. It showed us that sometimes the greatest thing you can offer is your art when thinking of rewards. People might just be willing to pay for it!

6. We built on early momentum to bring the campaign home

Given we had met around 2/3 of our fundraising goal in the first 48 hours of our campaign, it might have been tempting to stop and relax. Instead, we chose to keep the momentum going by calling on people to help get us across the finish. We did this by changing our message on social media from "help us meet our fundraising goal" to "we've almost met our goal, help us get over the line". Proving the old maxim that people like to back a winner, this message proved hugely effective in drawing in the last third of donations, as people who had yet to donate scrambled to pay the final donation needed to meet our fundraising goal.

By following these 6 steps, Dave and I met our two-week fundraising goal in 3 days. While we had a reasonably modest fundraising goal, we were still overwhelmed by the positive support and how quickly we reached our target by using the tactics listed above.

While every fundraising campaign is different, we recommend trying the crowdfunding route if you haven't before. Having taken the risk, we have reached our goal and recorded Songs of the Sea, and are thrilled to be sharing it with the world!

About Song of the Sea

Songs of the Sea is a 30-minute art-music song cycle for voice and piano about eight characters from sea history and mythology. Songs of the Sea is available on Spotify and Apple Music from Tuesday 25 June 2024.