RoadPony & Crowdfunding Shows: Helping Artists and Empowering Fans
It’s no secret that touring is essential for the success of a performer. It could easily be considered a necessity for the growth of the artist. However, touring is not easy. As a traveling musician myself, I can speak to the challenges artists face when trying to book a tour that makes sense logistically and financially.
You need to find cities where you’re in demand. A tour is useless if you’re losing money and no one is coming to the shows. There are tools out there that offer (at best) a rough estimate regarding your fan base in select areas. Even though this may seem like accurate data, you’re still not quite sure if, for example, the number of Facebook follows equates to dedicated fans who will come out to the show when you’re in town. It’s all a guess.
Additionally, even if those follows are fans, that doesn’t mean they’re willing to pay to see you play. Touring is expensive and you need revenue to stay afloat on the road.
If we flip perspective, as a dedicated fan, you may be eager to see your favorite performer but every time they post their tour route, your city is skipped. Or maybe you’re a fan of a performer that doesn’t tour often or at all. Wouldn’t it be nice to communicate to the band that you’re ready and willing to come out to a show?
Here’s where RoadPony (www.roadpony.com) comes in. RoadPony is a booking tool that guarantees income and accurate data used for tour market validation for performers and gives the fans a say in where the performers book their shows.
We’ve designed a method of interaction that allows fans to request performers in certain cities, states, and venues. Performers can view these requests and use the data to post a general tour route.
Fans can then view the tour route and bid on a city near them to entice the performer to play there. If the city is confirmed for the final tour route, performers collect the bid money and fans get access to the show.
Additional perks can be set by the performer to encourage fans to bid higher. This means more income for the performer, a better chance of the performer playing in the fan’s requested city, and more perks for the fans. It’s a win-win situation.
Note: We’re on v.1 of RoadPony. Currently fans can create an account and request performers that have a RoadPony profile. Performers can create a profile with essential info and see where fans have requested them. We plan to build the campaign feature once the amount of users makes sense to do so.
We hope that offering this direct communication between the fans and the performers will allow performers to hit the road more often, make their efforts worthwhile, and allow fans to enjoy the music and experiences these performers create.
