Features
Crowdsourcing Concerts
Crowdsourcing has become a pretty common way for artists to fund their latest projects, but could it also be a way to test out new markets for concerts?
Photo: Owen Sweeney / Invision / AP
Firefly Music Festival, Dover International Speedway, Dover, Del.
The Foo Fighters recently agreed to play a crowdsourced show in Richmond, Va., after fans there set a goal of selling 1,400 tickets at $50 each. The last time the band played Richmond was 15 years ago.
“See ya soon…let’s have a good time,” the band tweeted June 13 in response to the campaign.
The beauty of crowdsourcing campaigns is they can be set up so fans’ contributions are returned if a band doesn’t agree to play.
Canadian promoter Matt Laundrie of High Tide Entertainment has jumped on the crowdsourcing bandwagon to bring Red Hot Chili Peppers back to Victoria, British Columbia. The band hasn’t visited the city in 28 years.
Laundrie started a campaign on tilt.com to sell 5,000 tickets at $100 each to cover RHCP’s fees, and told Metro News he has a verbal agreement with the band’s agent that they will book the show if the money is raised.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a challenge at all,” Laundrie said. “Bands want to go places they haven’t been, so why not get fans behind it and do a crowdfunded show.”
At press time, Laundrie’s campaign had raised $30,000 and still had about three months to go.