Waist Deep in the Media Swamp

Village Music was an institution & the greatest record store in the UNIVERSE

I’ve lived in Marin County, just north of San Francisco for most of the last 35+ years.

I have been fortunate to live here. Two of my all time favorite music-related venues in the world were both located nearby, in Mill Valley. The legendary Sweetwater Saloon for live music and the ultimate record store, Village Music. I literally spent many hundreds of hours listening to music at the Sweetwater and thousands of dollars purchasing music at Village Music. Unfortunately, both are now closed due mainly to absurdly high rents.

To say Village Music was a record store is like saying Mount Everest is a hill. It was a University of American Music. John Goddard, the owner, was it’s professor and also it’s ringmaster.

I could go on touting its greatness, the in-store shows I experienced, the people I met there, what I learned… but instead there is documentary being made by Gillan & Monroe Grisman, children of the great musician, David Grisman.

They just began a Kickstarter campaign and need to raise $50K.

If you love music, donate what you can...

This is a story that needs to be told – it was a remarkable place and John is a remarkable man.

[a slightly shorter version of this article originally appeared in Write On! Online]

Pitch Video for Mary Kerr’s IndieGoGo Project “Swinging in the Shadows”

Many writers, filmmakers and other creatives are considering using crowdfunding sites to help raise funds for their projects. These sites allow you to pitch your projects to the public so that funds can be collectively raised. You can create your pitch from a mix video, images, and text. Like PBS or NPR fund drives, potential patrons are offered cumulative ‘rewards’ or ‘perks’ at levels determined by the amount they contribute.

The main crowdfunding sites are IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. IndieGoGo was founded in 2008, Kickstarter in 2009. Both have raised millions of dollars for thousands of projects. Recently, Kickstarter had some headline grabbing projects, such as an iPod Nano watch that raised nearly $1 million (when their goal was to raise $15,000).

That is the exception rather than the rule. Many projects attempt to raise less than $3,000. Regardless of the goal, most fail to reach it.

I was asked by producer/director Mary Kerr to help her set up a crowdfunding campaign to raise finishing money for a two-part documentary she’d been shooting on and off over the last 15 years about the untold story of the California Beat Era. She has self-funded the project until now and the docs are now complete and edited. She needs to raise $8,500 to add audio sweetening, pay her editor, create a boxed set of DVDs with bonus materials, etc.

The biggest difference between the two is that in order to receive contributions at the end of the campaign, you have to make or surpass your goal on Kickstarter (all or nothing), where IndieGoGo dispenses whatever funds have been pledged, whether or not the goal is reached (any money raised is yours). Kickstarter takes a 5% fee; IndieGoGo takes 4% if the goal is reached and 9% if it is not.

In addition, Kickstarter requires contributors to use Amazon Payments (limiting contributors to having a US bank account or a US address); IndieGoGo accepts direct credit card or PayPal.

Check both sites FAQs for more details.

Ultimately, we went with IndieGoGo as Mary wanted to be able to receive whatever funds are contributed.

The process for both is the same:

1. Decide how much money to raise and set the goal.
2. Determine how long it may take you to reach the goal (up to 120 days)
3. Post a project and create a pitch
4. Offer gifts and perks to donors based on how much they contribute
5. Share your pitch with others

In the pitch video, description text and the perk levels, being clear and clever is a big plus. For example, here are clever, successful Kickstarter campaigns for a book on design and another by a musician.

Perhaps the most important part of a campaign is what you do after you launch – marketing and sharing the pitch to others. Both of the examples had a built in fan base to start and that helped.

As I post this we only have a weeks to go. Feel free to contribute to the project or encourage others to do so.

OK, so it’s not the DIY Steadicam for the iPhone 4 but the Glif will be very useful. They are funding their first manufacturing run through Kickstarter.

They’ve already reached their goal, but pledge now to get one as soon as they are made.

‘Smut Capital’ a new documentary about San Francisco’s Tenderloin and the porn business during in the early 1970′s, is being funded through Kickstarter.

Through my video store in Marin, I had peripheral involvement with this local industry. It was an interesting time, to say the least… It would be great to see this project funded so we can see the whole story.

Here’s the trailer (NSFW):

Thanks to Violet Blue for the head’s up.
An interview with director Michael Stabile can be found here.