In this age where promotion through social media has become highly prolific and important in getting both new and existing artists recognised, is funding new material through Kickstarter and similar sites the way forward?

90s band TLC recently started one such campaign in order to fund their new album which will be their first since 2002. The band have had a turbulent career but enjoyed huge commercial success, especially with the albums “CrazySexyCool” and “FanMail”.

The band fell out of the public eye after the death of Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes and although the two remaining members have toured and recorded new music since Lopes’ death, they have been far less prominent than they were at the height of their success.

Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas set up their Kickstarter campaign with the intention of creating a new album completely on their own terms; something that isn’t always necessarily possible for artists funded by major labels, but is there a good reason for this?

Of course, artists don’t necessarily need major record labels on their side to create and promote good music, but there is no doubt that having a wealth of resources behind you certainly helps.

Artists are using Kickstarter campaigns everyday in order to fund the production of their music and that’s great: especially for those who already have a following that they have built up through social media and other, more traditional routes.

Artists that already have a legion of loyal supporters like TLC can only stand to gain from such a campaign. It means that fans can, or at least can appear to have control of the direction the band takes and creates a product that has the advantage of being something that the fans have helped to create.
Will this advantage translate into sales from the less dedicated or more casual fan? There is a reason that most commercially successful pop music is marketed the way it is; it is tried and tested and although it by no means guarantees success, it doesn’t harm it either.

The face of the music business does however seem to be changing. Fans have more of a voice through the use of platforms such as Twitter than ever before and can use this influence over the objects of their affection. Through this newly- found voice, it stands to reason that empowered music fans will favour something that they have had a hand in creating rather than something that has been marketed to them.