Friday, December 17, 2010

The Sheila Divine Reunites to Record a Fan-Funded Album

The Sheila Divine, much beloved Boston-based band of the '90s, has reunited to record a new album. (For background, they were previous written about in this blog here.) That's great news in and of itself, but what's more insteresting is that singer/songerwriter - and digital marketer - Aaron Perrino, has used the project-funding site, KickStarter, to finance this project. In his own words:

"Well it's 2010 and The Sheila Divine has decided to join the party. We want to try and recreate that lightning in a bottle. The original 3 piece line up of Aaron Perrino, Jim Gilbert, and Shawn Sears are teaming up with Brian Charles producer of New Parade to have another go at creating a piece of work that we can be proud of."

Setting an initial goal of $5,000, the band has proven that they are fondly remembered - and still relevent - raising more than $13,000. Pledgers of $1 or more get a digital download of the album, which is now in progress. Pledge $15 and add a signed photograph from the recording sessions. Increased generousity gets you t-shirts, limited edition vinyl presses, visits to the recording studio, tickets to a concert, etc. Then, starting at $500 it gets really interesting:
  • Pledge $500 or more and they will record any cover of your choosing and give you the exclusive rights and ownership to it.
  • $1,000 or more gets you an original song that you are the exlcusive owner of. (You can even have your wife's name in it.)

  • For $1,500 or more: "What do you want from us? Dinner at an amazing restaurant? A date with Jim? All the options above are fair game or email us your pitch."
  • And, finally for $5,000 they will perform a concert in your town. 
They have two backers at $500, but none above that. I wonder what covers they will be recording! ...

It's a great idea succesfully implemented by Aaron. As a small-time pledger I have been receiving regular updates from them with links to downloads of just-finished songs. Surprise gifts delivered to my inbox!

You can read more about their project on Kickstarter here. And you can listen to some of the songs they've recorded here.

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