The benefits of marketing your Kickstarter or other music crowdfunding project to the general public are scant; the marginal benefit is not worth the opportunity cost of not focusing on your Circle of Influence enough.

This assumption is based on our experience with our own Kickstarters and our observation and interviews with countless project creators.

But it may not be true 100% across the board. Today we have an example of successfully getting the attention of strangers.

It is the only music Kickstarter to be featured in the weekly Kickstarter HQ email for at least 18 months beginning December 2012.

Witnessing this is about as likely as getting video of a Sasquatch, but damn it if we didn’t find ourselves a template for how to make strangers care about your music crowdfunding project.

WARNING: This might seem like we’re telling you how to do this when in reality, this demonstrates just how unlikely you are to get strangers to pledge. But we’ll also demonstrate how to create a project that will succeed without being featured, so pay attention!

WHEN YOU CREATE A KILLER KICKSTARTER…

There are a few key elements that make this project ripe for getting the attention of strangers.

A Sincere Artistic Vision & Purpose Worth Backing

The Vision:  an album of songs written to Langston Hughes’ poetry, Haitian folk songs and original compositions.

Wow.  That IS killer, IMHO.

The first time I read this, I felt like participating in the project would have some sort of worldly reach and consequence.  I am not kidding!  I don’t know if that’s true but it really felt like that.

Also, note the sincerity in Leyla McCalla’s project description language.  She wrote a simple letter, very personal, that clearly conveys her purpose and plan.

Each paragraph has purpose:  (in order)

• Call To Action
• Artistic Vision
• Creating a gorgeous record
• The Recording Studio
• Guest Musicians
• Artistic Achievement
• Costs

This is practically a template for how to write your project description!

Kickstarter Features Projects Appealing to a Wide Audience or Specific World View

Kickstarter staff have a knack for picking featured projects that appeal to a wide audience. They’re curating a massive amount of projects and they want to bring a cohesive vibe to the projects they feature. In other words, they’re trying to guess what the largest number of people would enjoy and see as beautiful, purposeful, or remarkable. Let’s define those three things:

• Beautiful: the project showcases an artful aesthetic that reflects well on Kickstarter’s identity 
• Purposeful: the project has a mission larger than itself and sheds light on issues, communities or special interests
• Remarkable: the project itself makes people want to talk about it or remark upon it

These things are inherently hard to pull off with a music crowdfunding project. In order for your project to contain one or all of these you’d need:

• A cause beyond yourself to be the focus (purposeful)
• Tell the story in a way that makes people want to talk about it by using flawless storytelling, humour, or a catchy angle
• You’d need to have (or hire) amazing design & storytelling skills. Most musicians are good, but not THAT good at this part.

A Realistic Plan And Kickstarter Goal Amount

Leyla has planned out a project that is realistic.

There is no crazy CD release party with 1 bajillion ambulance lights, no fancy video with a cameo by Katy Perry, no $20,000 budget for the ever-ambiguous “promotional budget”.

It is just a recording project of an inspired set of songs.

Her budget is obviously very realistic at about $8000 total ($3000 from LA State Arts Council + $5000 Kickstarter).

This is a crucial aspect in your campaign’s design. You need to have a realistic plan and goal amount.

Take a look at Leyla’s Kicktraq (below or click here) and notice that she funded in about 3 days using only her Circle of Influence.

This is how to do it!

THE Example of a Kickstarter Success Story…

• Artistic Vision
• Purpose
• Beauty/Artful
• Remarkable
• Realistic Plan

This is most likely why Leyla’s project ended up being featured by Kickstarter, the kind of opportunity that many bands and musicians salivate over and keep themselves busy trying to attain!

TWO HUNDRED SIXTY NINE backers in one day for over $5000 of pledges!

I was very lucky to be featured in the kickstarter newsletter and things just took off from there! Lots of work to do but it’s pretty awesome to watch this campaign grow, especially in the way that it has! ~ Leyla

Leyla was lucky to be featured but it was more than just coincidence, it was project design.

The crowd will take notice of amazing artistic endeavors and will help fund if the opportunity is right.

THE TAKEAWAY

This project shows that it’s possible for random people to immensely impact a music crowdfunding project.

It is MEGA-important to note why this project is able to garner stranger-support, though.

The project is set up for this success with its Artistic Vision, Purpose Worth Backing, Beauty and Artfulness, Remark-ability and Realistic, Achievable plan.

If your project has these facets, you may be able to stumble on stranger adoption.

But for the large majority of us, this is absolutely not something to rely on. Leyla planned on not getting stranger adoption with a goal of $5000, but built this project to have the best chance possible of going “viral”.