Sunlight Ascending is “for the most part, an all-instrumental band”.

I watched their video twice and both times I felt like an episode of Friday Night Lights might spontaneously break out.

Irregardless, this modest project has a couple of interesting points that we need to talk about, so let’s get to it.

View Sunlight Ascending’s Kickstarter

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CHOOSING THE PROJECT’S SCOPE

One of the core assumptions that I work from is that a project should attempt to maximize its scope.  In other words, don’t just try to cover recording costs, shoot for mixing, mastering, and duplication, too!  To minimize risk, use some flex goals.

In reality, however, this assumption isn’t always true.

Sometimes you have some money saved up or the ability to generate some revenue with shows and are more than happy to put that towards your art.

Sometimes you just aren’t sure what your fundraising reach is and you want to play it safe.

Sometimes you may take personal pride in funding all or part of a project yourself.

In the case of Sunlight Ascending, one of these reasons or something similar was at play.  If you look in their Risks & Challenges section, they say, “It would be ideal, but less realistic to fund the entire production through Kickstarter, so we hope to fund around half of it.”

I don’t have a huge, home run point here, I just want to acknowledge that there can be other scenarios to maximize than simply fundraising.

Of course, as the crowd-funding mechanism becomes more and more commonplace, you will need to be conscious of this, too.  That way, you can make a decision as to whether you are chasing after your dream versus just doing what you think you can do.

As they say, fortune favors the bold…

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TECHNICAL PROJECT POINTS

Just so there is a bit more concrete takeaway here, let’s cruise through a few technical points.

Video Lacks 

This video seems to be more of an artistic endeavor than a Kickstarter marketing tool.

If you are willing to assume that an artistic endeavor will translate into Kickstarter success, that is fine.

But most likely, you will need to add the key components as well:  Purpose Worth Backing, Your Mission and Call To Action.

Project Description Provides Necessary Information & Employs Images

This project description does a good job of presenting the information that a potential backer needs:

• Who you are,
• What you are doing,
• Project Timeline,
• Reward Images,
• A bit about the budget.

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THE TAKEAWAY

Make sure that your Video and Project Description are communicating what they need to, especially your Purpose Worth Backing and Call To Action.  Use formatting in the project description and artistry in the video to help highlight these.

Also, make sure you are honest with yourself and that the goal amount you set reflects what your true purpose (for example, doing an ass-kicking project versus not failing).