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GoFundMe to Pay for Gear?

#221
48thStreetCustom said:
I've seen a couple YouTube videos lately of musician starting GoFundMe campaigns to pay for custom instruments to be built. I'm not going to post them here because my intention isn't to bash them personally. But I want to see what TB thinks about it.

Both videos I saw (and I'm sure there's plenty more that I haven't seen) are for national touring bands, so it's not like they're just some jabroni in his basement. They both offer incentives for donations ($20-ticket to a gig, $50-private lesson, $500-a private concert in your home, $1000-a song written on the new bass).

What do you guys think? Is this just as legit as Ben Folds and Mike Doughty starting GoFundMe campaigns to pay for their albums? Is helping a musician get his dream instrument contributing to their art?

Let's hear it TB.
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I can't say I've seen this myself, but I really don't spend a lot of time cruising around YouTube. The one time I remember hearing about this is when a band got the gear stolen out of their van while on tour and they did this. They needed gear ASAP and label support for metal bands is pretty weak.
 
#228
The concept of funding with a reward system is great. I love it. What I don't like is lazy...

A local female artist put up a GoFundMe for $25K so she could make her dream come true and finish recording her album. F*CK THAT! I too had dreams of being a rock star and what came with that was a lot of hard work, whatever we needed to do raise that money and of course you needed a lot of luck. This snugglemuffin didn't even have a reward system set up for a copy of the CD / Digital Download / etc for donating. She just wanted money and that made me furious.

And 25K to make a record? Pfft...I'd do it for her for $2K :P
 
#229
tfer said:
The difference we have have with those who are younger is pretty basic: we were raised to work for it, while they were raised to ask for it.
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Say the older Americans that have racked up more public debt than anyone, ever... The sanctimony is grotesque. Ya'll claim to be hard workers who never took anything you didn't earn, but you're leaving your younger countrymen how many trillions in the hole?
 
#230
Luke19Boarder said:
You could also frame it like this: times and markets are changing, and the older generation is stuck in their old ways (for better or worse).
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@40Hz had it right. Us older guys are to blame.

When our generation had kids, we wanted to give them everything that they asked for. It's human nature to want to see your kids happy. We gave them everything they asked for.

What we didn't give them, was pride and work ethic. Anybody with either wouldn't crowd fund.

If I have a great idea, I'll go to the bank, with a significant portion of the capital raised, and a business plan. I'll put my financial future on the line and take a risk. If the business plan is sound enough, and I have my ducks in a row, the bank will back me.

If they don't, they'll tell me what more I need to do to get approved, and I'll work towards that.

The idea of crowd funding wouldn't even cross my mind.
 
#231
tfer said:
The difference we have have with those who are younger is pretty basic: we were raised to work for it, while they were raised to ask for it.
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This is a radical generalization, though I'm not sure who "younger" is to you. I have always worked, saved, and bought my own gear, and really anything. This is like me saying that the difference in those who are older than us is their prices were less at our age, with no mention of inflation.
 
#232
Anachronism said:
Say the older Americans that have racked up more public debt than anyone, ever... The sanctimony is grotesque. Ya'll claim to be hard workers who never took anything you didn't earn, but you're leaving your younger countrymen how many trillions in the hole?
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Without getting too deeply into politics here, you can thank the buying of votes for most of the debt. Governments want to be everything to everybody, and their first inclination is to throw money at problems, without seeing where cuts can be made.
 
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#233
tfer said:
@40Hz had it right. Us older guys are to blame.

When our generation had kids, we wanted to give them everything that they asked for. It's human nature to want to see your kids happy. We gave them everything they asked for.

What we didn't give them, was pride and work ethic. Anybody with either wouldn't crowd fund.

If I have a great idea, I'll go to the bank, with a significant portion of the capital raised, and a business plan. I'll put my financial future on the line and take a risk. If the business plan is sound enough, and I have my ducks in a row, the bank will back me.

If they don't, they'll tell me what more I need to do to get approved, and I'll work towards that.

The idea of crowd funding wouldn't even cross my mind.
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And there is nothing wrong with utilizing that system.

However, there are now alternative ways to get funding, such as crowd funding. It has proven in many, many cases to be beneficial to both creators as well as consumers (see link below).

To say that anyone who utilizes crowd funding lacks pride and work ethic is laughable. Look at this list and try to tell me every single one of them is a lazy, entitled millennial looking for a handout.

List of highest funded crowdfunding projects - Wikipedia

Outgrow.me - The Crowdfunding Marketplace - site that sells successfully crowd funded products.

There are plenty of entrepreneurs out there (young and old) that are simply utilizing a new way of funding their products. I fail to see the inherent character flaws that you are claiming.
 
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#234
tfer said:
Without getting too deeply into politics here, you can thank the buying of votes for most of the debt. Governments want to be everything to everybody, and their first inclination is to throw money at problems, without seeing where cuts can be made.
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Since the behavior you describe is hardly new, wouldn't that mean that this is not really a generational conflict between hard-working old folk and handout-loving kids? My whole point in bringing up social security was that there are plenty of older people who love them some sweet handouts (and for those who don't like that as an example, there are plenty more available).
 
#235
ok, you need something special made to do what you love. The artist or maker usually requires a fee ahead of time. Thus, imagine you had no money and wanted to get this item. You already have a full time job-What do you do? sale something, do odd jobs, or borrow and pay back the lone. that's what this is. a sale- trade- barter of products and services. and can benefit both parties. It's not about Age it's about using every resource you have to accomplish a goal.
 
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#237
This thread has taken quite a few turns.

I wouldn't contribute to someone's custom bass unless I knew them personally and believed in their reasoning for wanting it. If others would, so be it. Not my money so I have no say in what they do with it.

I've contributed to GFM causes a few times, one pretty recently. If I believe in the cause it's my money to give as I please.
 
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#238
People can do whatever they want. If people are stupid enough to hand over money to somebody to get their custom bass built then more power to the player who is doing the funding project. I'd personally never do something like that as I actually have things like "shame" and "pride" built into me.
 
#240
Anachronism said:
Say the older Americans that have racked up more public debt than anyone, ever... The sanctimony is grotesque. Ya'll claim to be hard workers who never took anything you didn't earn, but you're leaving your younger countrymen how many trillions in the hole?
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Yeeaahhh.... that'd be the ones who didn't share in that ethic. There are plenty of us olduns (lol) who didn't/don't contribute to such shenanigans.
 

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