Tea Leaf Green is sort of a jammy 70’s sounding touring band.  They’ve been fairly responsible in building their online following and mailing list over the last decade which is the main reason raising over $25k will be no problem for them.

If you’re a newer band, take note.  These guys are reaping the bennies of collecting fans all these years.  Start building your email list early, it may be the only thing you have left when you can’t tour any more.

Let’s take a look here, I think these guys should be solid inspiration for you all the way around.

+ STEAL THIS

• Video –  Passion and purpose 
• Stellar package array

– FIX THIS

• Cut the video by 90 or 120 seconds
• Add some graphic pizzaz in the description area

// VIDEO (4 min 50 secs)

No story, but they poured their hearts out for the viewer.  Sincere.  Effective.

I dig this video even though it’s long.  They wanted to fully explain how this project is different than past records and why involving their fans with this project is so important to them.  Their fan base is eating it up, as they should.

This video was more of a behind the scenes mixed with some really sincere quotes from each guy.  It comes across unscripted and from the heart.  The 4 min mark is the height of truth and transparency.

Low tech and easy to make.

They pulled the clips together in iMovie and slapped the film look on it then added some pre-made Apple transitions. This is proof that you don’t have to be a techie or a video pro to make an effective Kickstarter video.

Actually, the simplest and less produced videos come across more sincere and real.

// PACKAGES

Killer price spacing and value alignment.

From $10 to $10,000 these guys don’t leave gaps.  Neither the phone call package or the 90 minute Skype music lesson is flying off the shelf but then again, they rarely do.

I like how they took advantage of the artist in the band by creating a $500 package where Josh will create a “personalized portrait or drawing” for you.  All five have sold out!

Do you have any hidden talents or craftiness that would allow you to do something like this?

Great package formatting. Take note!

You just have to look at these packages to experience the simple formatting and clear descriptions.  Some package arrays give you anxiety as soon as you lay eyes on them.

These guys avoid the Package Formatting Pitfalls:

• all caps titles
• poor use of punctuation and symbols
• lack of conciseness and clarity

They use the + sign instead of plus or & or and.  In most packages they didn’t even use a period, which I actually prefer because it lets the formatting breath even more. They didn’t try to title each package and use funky symbols and brackets and shit i.e. {THE GOLD PACKAGE!!!}.

I’m pointing this small stuff out because it matters.  Anyone who’s had to write for large audiences knows that you HAVE to dumb down and rework EVERYTHING in order for everyone to understand what you mean.  Even then, some people don’t get it.

If someone doesn’t understand what you wrote online, it’s your fault, not theirs.  Live by this rule, and you’ll be off to a great start in the world of communicating online.

// PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Sadly, no images, but great, concise formatting. 

I’d love some images here, but the nicely written and formatted description does them justice.

Since they’re going to hit their goal early, they really need the presence of a multi tiered Flex Goal description. At the top in bold they should write…

If we hit $35k it will allow us to [solid cause to get behind] and if we can hit $45k we’ll be able to [REALLY solid cause to get behind].

// GOAL AMOUNT

Exercised restraint and pushed through the fear and doubt to hit the launch button.

Here’s what the guys said in our interview:

Tea Leaf Green – The biggest fear is whether or not we asked for too much. Originally we set our goal higher, but decided to run a comprehensive budget to figure out the bare minimum we would need to record and release the album. We also needed to factor in the percentages taken out by Kickstarter/Amazon/cost of executing everything we’re promising. Once we figured out that number that’s what we went with. It was terrifying to hit the ‘launch’ button, but ultimately we knew we just needed to dive in and do our best to spread the word. No guts no glory.

I really couldn’t say it better myself.  I think they knew they could raise more, but also wanted to take out an insurance policy by staying at $25,000.  To follow through with this strategy, though, they really need to communicate clearly that they’re aiming to raise more.

// CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE

5000 fans on their list and 25k fans on Facebook.  

Tea Leaf Green – We have about 5000 on our email list. We’re using Facebook a lot to supplement.  We plan on using our email list at least once a week. Maybe more as our end date approaches. We’re taking it 1 week at a time. A good approach for us is setting a goal amount to reach by every Friday for the duration of our campaign. Instead of looking at it as $25k in 4 weeks, we’re targeting $6k increase by the end of each week.

They have 8 studio albums and 7 live albums so rallying fans for the release of an album is not a new experience for them.  I’ll be curious to hear how their Kickstarter project compares to doing a standard pre-order campaign.

A standard bundle/pre-order campaign averages $26 per transaction according to direct-to-fan marketing platform, Topspin.  The average pledge per backer for music Kickstarter projects is around $60 with many bands able to average closer to $100 per backer.

// THE TAKEAWAY

I really love this campaign because this band is big and well known, but not so big and well known that we small artists can’t borrow and learn from pretty much everything they do.

They’ll absolutely hit their goal.  If they implement my advice by adding a couple tiers of Flex Goals, I think they can purt’near double their goal of $25k.