Soul Asylum Teams Up With PledgeMusic

[Closer]

It does seem like they are kinda in need of money when you look at most of those offers... I mean, 50,000 dollars for a private concert or 10,000 dollars for an acoustic house concert? Even if I could afford that I wouldn't spend that amount of money on it, no matter how much I love the band. That's just a bit ridiculous. And all those other offers... I just don't know, is this them trying to let the money roll in or do they really need this to get the record out there?

But I don't want to sound negative, I hope it works out for them. I'll just be waiting for it to hit the stores like I've always done, and that's good enough for me.

[AlyssaJones]

It does seem like they are kinda in need of money when you look at most of those offers... I mean, 50,000 dollars for a private concert or 10,000 dollars for an acoustic house concert? Even if I could afford that I wouldn't spend that amount of money on it, no matter how much I love the band. That's just a bit ridiculous. And all those other offers... I just don't know, is this them trying to let the money roll in or do they really need this to get the record out there?

But I don't want to sound negative, I hope it works out for them. I'll just be waiting for it to hit the stores like I've always done, and that's good enough for me.

Honestly, 50 grand is probably about what they charge for a private gig regardless of some album promotion, so I don't think that's anything new. It ain't cheap to book a band, even a less-popular one like SA.

[nikkip]

This is pretty typical of Pledge campaign offerings. I actually suspect that there's a list of things to pick from on the site wen bands set up their campaign. If you've ever seen other bands doing pledge campaigns, it's all set up very similar. You can just buy an album or a digital download, you don't have to purchase any high price things. But some of them are pretty cool and I wish I could!

And Alyssa is right...that's probably the price to book them. It can not be cheap for them to come out to do a private show, travel is pricey, they have a crew to pay and you know, I'm sure they'd like to make money too. Making an album isn't cheap either and selling music for money is becoming an increasingly iffy proposition in modern times. I strongly suspect that they have to make money to continue touring and making albums

[triumph3434]

handwritten Lyrics... it says we will write the lyrics. Who is we? Id like to hav eDave handwrite the lyrics to HIS song and sign it, but i wonder if it will be written by some random person and then just signed.

I think we all got to remember that a lot of artists dont make much money fom CD sales anymroe with digital music. at first i was a bit taken aback by this as well, but what hte heck, they should make money too.

I wish the Solo Dave acoustic CD had all Ten songs on it, but its going to be one song per cd??? Anyways... I had to get one. Ill upload it as soon as I get it, LOL. I just hope I dont get Runaway train, LOL!

Also, it says in the receit that SA agrees to Fulfill al orders by september 15th... so that sets a time table. Im excited!

[AlyssaJones]

Ha! I just watched the pledge video again and spotted Jim! lol

[Closer]

I'm not criticizing them, they should do whatever they want. I just don't know what the deal is. Do they have a record company supporting them, or are they on their own this time and therefore trying to make so much dough to get the record out? I don't see a lot of integrity in selling setlists and autographs for so much money, stuff that bands usually give out for free, but that's my opinion... I guess I'm old fashioned. Do with that whatever you want, no one is forced to buy anything. I'm just excited to hear the new record, would be nice to finally get a release date, though.

[nikkip]

handwritten Lyrics... it says we will write the lyrics. Who is we? Id like to hav eDave handwrite the lyrics to HIS song and sign it, but i wonder if it will be written by some random person and then just signed.

I think we all got to remember that a lot of artists dont make much money fom CD sales anymroe with digital music. at first i was a bit taken aback by this as well, but what hte heck, they should make money too.

I wish the Solo Dave acoustic CD had all Ten songs on it, but its going to be one song per cd??? Anyways... I had to get one. Ill upload it as soon as I get it, LOL. I just hope I dont get Runaway train, LOL!

You can always ask about the handwritten lyrics. They've answered some questions on FB. So cool that you got the accoustic CD, would love to see Dave's artwork when you get it!

I think these Pledge campaigns are designed to "add value" to recorded music, which as said above isn't worth much to most people these days. So instead of selling just the music, they package the music with stuff that is of value (at least to some people). I bought the signed CD because...why not? $30 is not a lot for a new SA album. I'll probably also buy the live GDU.

The Pledge campaigns are basically a more modern way for fans to directly support their favorite musicians without needing a record company and other media to bridge the gap between the two. The days of stores, radio, TV and printed media providing musicians with fans and fans with a connection to musicians are largely over. It's ok to be nostalgic for those days but don't hold it against the musicians for trying to take a more modern approach to connecting with their fan base. I followed another band that is near and dear to my heart through their first Pledge campaign (and am involved in helping with pledge vids for their second, though I don't have any real knowledge of the inner workings of these campaigns) and there was a split of opinion of fans much the same as there is here. Certainly, you can just wait to buy the album when it comes out. But if you're going to buy it anyway, it's nice to support the efforts upfront. And when you pledge at any level, you get extra content like previews of songs, interviews, behind the scenes footage...for no extra charge. I think that's pretty cool and a good reason to support the Pledge campaign over just waiting for the album to come out.

Sorry for any typos, this forum is not real mobile friendly :/

[AlyssaJones]

I think it's cool that they're trying something new and fun to get the fans involved. I mean really, why not? I mean I certainly don't need any of that extra stuff (though I considered the magnet one before it sold out), but people are excited about it and with the music business going in the direction that it is, they might as well throw some crazy stuff at the wall and see what sticks.

I'm just happy there's a new album coming down the pike, especially since Delayed Reaction was such a clunker. I had an amazing time at the release shows and I'm happy they made it, but that is NOT a record you wanna go out on.

[Closer]

I think it's good that they are trying something new and I hope it works out. I remember not so very long ago that they barely did anything social media wise. I even remember people being disappointed to only find out afterwards that they played in their area, simply because they didn't update their tour dates online properly. I think that was also before this site came around, so I applause them for the turnaround.

I think some prices on that site are just a bit crazy for those offers. Maybe I feel that way a little bit because they (or at least Dave) always had such an oldfashioned attitude towards all of this, and never really cared much about the business side, and now they're throwing around such huge prices for things like a setlist or something as weird as voicemail greetings. But like I said... no one is forced to buy it and if people really like those kind of things and want to pay that kind of money for it, then good for them.

I agree on the Delayed Reaction comment... it's the only SA record that ever disappointed me, so I hope the new one will make up for it.

[OneLovedBand]

I did a meet & greet with John Oates (of Hall & Oates) through PledgeMusic a few years ago. Don't know if the situation with SA will be the same, but it was a private meet & greet with just a handful of people so we really got to talk to him. We even got put in a different group from the "casino people" backstage. From what I could tell, he didn't seem any less accessible than before. Still came out after the show to talk to fans for free at another show I went to less than a year later. It was just more people and less time.

I feel bad for musicians in this climate. Seems with everything free or streamed online, it's much harder to make money off of music. Don't fault anyone for using the tools available to keep on making music.