When you're funding the operation or paying for it yourself take as long as you want to get it right, but if you ask other people for money to help you achieve your goals you owe it to them to deliver sooner rather than later. Helping you, navigate the music industry. Here's Rick Barker with the music industry blueprint podcast. So last night I had the pleasure of being an ad kind of a it was like a job fair, but for creatives and people in the industry to meet a whole bunch of folks at at home where I do my free Workshops the first Monday of every month if you're ever in Nashville, you could check them out or you can follow me on my Facebook page and I Stream that man alive, but I got into a conversation with a couple that I want to share with you because I think that it could benefit a lot of folks. So as we were talking I was asking about music and he was the producer she was the artist and we started talking about she brought up. She just I don't know how the conversation got here. But she says yeah, my fans are really anticipating this record. I done a Kickstarter campaign and I'm like wow. Ow, I said so how long has it been she says well, it was last March and I'm like and you still have it delivered the record and the producer jumped in right away. And he's like, what do you mean, you know, we got to get it right? It's like you know, how long does it take to build a house? I said my house was custom built by one of the best builders in Nashville in six months. He's like, well, it normally takes and I said no I said wait a minute. I said it's because they had a plan it's because they had a strategy. Because they had everything laid out. If you're just kind of if you're just kind of winging it then yeah, it's going to take you an awful long time. And and I said, well the fans aren't going to understand the fans are really, you know, they paid for something. Yeah, two months three months four months, you know, but don't be unrealistic I said and if you're going to have to go longer it's up to you to say something before they start dictating. The conversation and what I mean by that is if the person who's angry is the one dictating the conversation that's what all the new people get to see that are coming into the conversation. They get to see that this person feels that they were wrong, you know, this isn't really good for your brand. So what you want to do is give them consistent updates you want to be honest. You want to show them if it's taking you longer to write the songs. Tell them it's taking you longer to write. The songs quite honestly in the first place. You should not start taking money to reveal those who the Monies to record the project. Okay, so that means you should have all the preparation done ahead of time. That means the song should be written. You should have been playing them online. You should be playing them. It shows you should be seeing which ones resonate with the audience. You should make sure that you're going in to record the write songs because the recording process itself should not take a year unless Yes, you have it written the songs in your trying to just you know, do it in real time? No. No, not today. This isn't the 70s and the 80s were rock bands would disappear and you know, we need music your fans need music if they paid for it. You need to get them that music sooner rather than later. So here's what my suggestions are for a couple things one is if you find yourself in the situation, then you need to come. Tell them exactly what's happening be honest with them and let them know it's taking longer than anticipated and start creating some really cool stuff some fun stuff that you can give them that you can share with them. Maybe invite them to a Facebook live or an Instagram live and share with them the stuff that you've recorded so far do it in a private group if you need to so that it's just for them but make them feel that you haven't forgotten about them make them, you know feel Like there's still a part of this situation. It's when we disappear and when we just vanish that's when the the problems start in the future. Make sure that these people feel like they're a part of the process by sharing the music that you plan to record. Don't be in such a hurry to just go grab all this money and then sit on it for a while to try to figure out what the songs are going to be prepare yourself. No, the songs make sure that these are the songs that they want make sure that they know the stories behind the songs. Let him come in the studio. See when the song that they already know about is being recorded. Let him see it come to life. It's easy to keep people involved these days with social media. It's not hard. There are no secrets you can't hide anymore. So so don't hide especially don't hide with the people that have put out their hard-earned money because you got to remember something. Okay today at the recording of this people can get music for free anywhere. They want when they give you money they have invested in you and it's your responsibility to honor that investment. Okay. So now when they give you money that means that you've done something to gain their trust and to gain their support specially when it comes to this crowdfunding, you know, they bought into to you so don't jeopardize that and don't ruin it because your ego is getting in the way saying that you can't go tell people that it's not quite right. No it is that's your job. Okay, once you take somebody else's money you work for them at that point. Okay. They're the ones funding the operation. It's their responsibility to know what's going on and it's your responsibility to keep them informed it really is and if you don't if you want to take a long time to record your day. You project or whatever you have that prerogative to do that. That's your priority. You can do that. But fund it yourself when you start asking other people for help. Now you have to answer to them to tell them what's going on. So I hope you found this useful. I hope you found that helpful. I hope if you're in this situation. I've given you some ways that you could hopefully get yourself out of the situation. If you were planning on trying to crowd fund. I hope I've given you information that can help you not get into this type of situation. Situation if you need any more information what at all just head over to my website music industry blueprint.com while you're there you can grab a free copy of my book you can take the artist assessment and if you haven't subscribed yet to this podcast, I would appreciate you doing that. It would mean the world to me also share it with someone you think could benefit from this leave a review if that's what you feel up to and I will see you on the next episode. Ciao. You've been listening to the music industry blueprint podcast with Greg Barker. You can follow Rick on Twitter at Brick Barker music and remember you don't drown by falling into the water you drown by staying there.
Have you used crowdfunding to finance a record? Did you wait too long to deliver? Have you lost the trust of your fans because they invested in you but you haven't met their expectations? Listen to this episode of the MIB podcast to find out how you can get yourself out of this sticky situation and re-engage those fans. 👍🏻  “When you're funding the operation or paying for it yourself, take as long as you want to make it right, but if you ask other people for money to help achieve your goals you owe it to them to deliver sooner rather than later.” - Rick Barker What do you want to hear from the Music Industry Blueprint Podcast? Tell us here! ***Want to be a guest on the Music Industry Blueprint Podcast? *** Send an email to podcast@musicindustryblueprint.com With the following information: Name, website, social handles, questions you would like to ask Rick and contact information  Resources:  Free Training “How To Become A Social Media Ninja In Under An Hour.” Click HERE If you're listening after January 24, 2019 & Want the Free Training! Artist Assessment  with Rick:  Facebook Instagram Youtube  Twitter Soundcloud RickBarker.com Contact: podcast@musicindustryblueprint.com for a chance to be a guest on the MIB podcast show  ---   Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/music-industry-blueprint/message 