Music Crowdfunding: Why You Should Include Stretch Goals In Your Plans

While not all music crowdfunding campaigns are successful and some are big disappointments, other do incredibly well sometimes doubling their goals or more. When planning your campaign you should also plan for success with at least some basic possibilities for stretch goals, additional things you can do with more money, and related rewards. In the recent case of Kittie, they simply added more of the same rewards which fans clearly desired. But one wonders if they could have achieved even more with upgraded goals as did Emery for their recent campaign.

Kittie, whose Facebook page seems to be their official site, launched an Indiegogo campaign requesting $20,000 and received $40,525 (Canadian).

The project was designed to "celebrate 20 years of Kittie with a DVD featuring never before seen footage, and a tell-all book that digs deep to give you the story behind the music."

Clearly there was a solid base of support which caught even Kittie by surprise.

Help Kittie Celebrate Our 20th Anniversary with a Documentary DVD and Book!

Said Kittie's Morgan Lander:

"To be honest with you, it was something that I didn't necessarily expect…I was under the impression we would need the full 30 days to raise the money and it turns out that we actually shattered our goal in the first eight hours."

Given that most of the pledge rewards are "sold out," I checked the updates and they did add some rewards but don't seem to have planned a stretch campaign.

Plan For Outsized Success With Stretch Goals

Stretch goals and related rewards should be a basic part of your crowdfunding campaign planning. These can be presented in relationship to specific goals so folks know that their support is more than just bigger numbers.

Emery is near the end of their crowdfunding campaign with a goal of $50,000 and $96,515 in pledges to date. Like Kittie, they have a strong fanbase that wants to support them as they move away from a major label contract to take control of their music with a new album.

Earlier this month, when they had reached their initial goal, they added not just new rewards but new goals as well and then featured a graphic illustrating the initial and stretch goals:

The initial record funding goal was stretched to include a music video at $90,000 and additional goals beyond that. Though they may not get much further, they opened up the possibility of making quite a bit more than initially requested.

It's hard to say if Kittie left much money on the table or not. They did respond to fans with new rewards and they did receive double their initial request.

But planning for outsize success will help keep you from scrambling at the last minute if response exceeds your expectations.

More:

• How To Plan Your Music Crowdfunding Campaign From Start To Finish
• Music Crowdfunding Tips from #IndiegogoToronto
• 15 Top Tips For Successful Music Crowdfunding And Fan Funding Campaigns

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) posts music crowdfunding news @CrowdfundingM. To suggest topics about music tech, DIY music biz or music marketing for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.