Crowd funded music

The growth of crowd funded channels and opportunities has grown since the start of sites like Kickstarter (US) and Pozible (Australia). However, the problem raised by many supporters of classical music is that they’re not tax deductible as the sites are based on buying rewards.

Here are two great organisations who have established their own ways you can support the commissioning and performance of classical music which is tax deductible.

Ensemble Offspring is Australia’s foremost new music ensemble, dedicated to the performance of innovative music and they launched Noisy Egg last year. Their dream is to…

create the music of tomorrow; music that inspires and arouses; music that excites and provokes. And it’s not every day you get the chance to play a major part in this process!

Noisy Egg is to ensure there is new, invigorating & inspiring music written and they’ve developed a range of rewards associated with tax deductible donations:
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• $100+ gets your name listed on the EO website and in the World Premiere performance program.
• $200+ gets the above, plus two free tickets to the World Premiere of the commissioned piece.
• $500+ gets all of the above, plus donation permanent acknowledgement on the score and an invitation to rehearsals to meet the performers and experience what goes on behind the scenes.

[/list]Find out more on Ensemble Offspring’s website

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Chronology Arts have established the Commissioners Circle where concepts for new works can be submitted by composers and they’ll be reviewed. The project is then posted so you can read about the project and support it in a tax deductible way.

You can see what they are doing with an event next Monday when Sydney based quartet The NOISE having raised the funds to commission 7 composers for Composed NOISE are now fundraising to workshop, rehearse, record and publicly perform them.

The funding is to commission: Andrew Ford, Rosalind Page, Paul Cutlan, Alex Pozniak, Amanda Cole, Andrew Batt-Rawden and Lyle Chan, to write 7 new works for string quartet. It’ll be an extremely significant collection of new works for string quartet and all the works will involve improvisation and will grapple with some unique and interesting concepts.

On Monday March 25th at the Watters Gallery in East Sydney, there will be discussions with all of the composers and a performance by The NOISE, a sneak-peak premier and public workshop of Andrew Ford’s 4th String Quartet with the composer in attendance. Plus – there will also be wine and cheese!

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Another innovative new approach is GiggedIn, where fans can support groups. It uses some of the approaches of Kickstarter and Pozible in that if the target isn’t reached the promoter doesn’t get any of the money.

How GiggedIn works:

• For Artists, Agents, Promoters and Managers: It’ll enable you to book events with a guaranteed audience. Fans pledge to buy tickets for an event with the understanding that an event will only be held once a minimum number of pledges are reached. It is revolutionising the way music events are booked, making weak crowds a thing of the past!
• For Fans: Show your support for local emerging artists and discover new live music! You pledge to buy using your credit card and you’ll never be charged unless the gig actually goes ahead.
• For Venues: Never lose money on a night again! Always break even by knowing how many punters you need. Remove a bit of uncertainty and work more collaboratively with musicians around volume expectations. Know when the gig will happen or not. Set a specific date and time the pledge goal must be met by. Don’t let your spare nights go to waste! There could be an opportunity to take advantage with a profitable show.

What they all allow you to do is support the music you like to get performed live, which is the best way to hear music – with friends, at a venue and seeing the performers create.