FROM PUNK BAND TO KIDS MUSIC (AND A BOOK)

Stella Maxwell and her brother Urny were in a touring punk band for the last 12 years that disbanded in 2010. Stella is also a pre school teacher who’s been telling her students a wacky story about a Bull Shark for the last eight years.

“What started as a silly story about a strawberry jam-loving bullshark years ago (made up in a Pre-K classroom where Stella taught at the time,) has evolved over eight years, where now the goal is to publish the story as a children’s book with its own musical soundtrack.”

What can we possibly learn from this Kickstarter?

View Adam & The Bull Shark’s Kickstarter

INVOLVE A GROUP OF PEOPLE IN YOUR PROJECT WHO WILL ALSO BACK YOU

I just love this project for some reason. The video is super rough from a production standpoint but it tells a clear story and it uses KIDS!!  Plus the kids got to go to the studio and sing on the record. And if there are kids who sing on an album there are parants who want the album so they can brag to everyone that little Johnny “recorded with a band in the studio”.

You can also bet that other teachers and faculty have gotten involved and perhaps backed the project.

If your story, art, or project revolves around a specific group of people, you may not need pre-existing fans in order to fund it.  You just need to involve that group of people and make it their project.

LOCAL BAND EXAMPLE

A local Pink Floyd cover band wanted to put on a theater show here in town.  The venue seats around 750 people.  The problem was that this band was pretty new and didn’t have much awareness so it was going to take a miracle to sell all of the tickets.

They contacted the high school choir (about 50 kids) and asked them to perform two of the songs with the band during the show.  Each kid attracted three or four people who wanted to come see them perform, since it was a rare opportunity and experience (plus they probably liked Pink Floyd). The show sold out.

HOW CAN YOU USE THIS TACTIC?

What interest groups could you get involved in your project?  More specifically, if you have a tie with an interest group (church, boyscouts, beat farmers, 4h, lumber jack union, frat, sorority, gym, baseball team, book club, etc) how can you taylor your project to involve them? This tactic takes loads of creativity, but you wouldn’t be here if you were short on that.