FOKOFPOLISIEKAR launched a crowdfunding campaign on 22 March
2017 via Thundafund to raise money for their first full length album in 11
years. Their dream goal was to raise
R500 000. This amount was set to cover
the album production and printing costs, music videos, marketing expenses and
various crowdfunding and other expenses.
The band’s fans reacted with fire and two records were
quickly shattered. According to
Thundafund, they raised the most money within 48 hours and also managed to
raise the most funds for a music album in South Africa to date. Within only 9
days, Fokofpolisiekar exceeded their dream goal of R500 000 and this amount is
still ticking over as fans continue to pledge for an album they clearly would
do anything for to get made.
We were all ecstatic on Friday afternoon when we struck R500
000. The campaign kicked off with a bang and the funds just kept coming in. It
was quite surreal at times. We are extremely grateful to our fans for their
support. We are now more amped than ever to write a killer album,’’ says
Francois van Coke.
And the pledges are still rolling in…
On Tuesday morning, 4 April, Fokofpolisiekar received over
R570 000 in pledges and there are still 47 days left for people to back the
project.
The Fokofpolisiekar band members know that in the current
state of the music industry it is very difficult to sell music and for that
reason they had many other rewards available as part of this crowdfunding
campaign.
State of affairs
“We know that album sales are on an all-time low and that’s
one of the reasons why we decided to go the crowdfunding route. To recoup the
costs of an album these days is almost impossible, especially for a band that
does not produce mainstream music,’’ says Jaco S. Venter.
It is very interesting to note that of the R570 000 raised,
only 446 units of the upcoming album have been pre-sold. That amounts to only R61 580 of the R570 000
that has been raised by album pre-sales.
“It is crazy that album sales make up such a small portion
of the money that we have raised. But, don’t get me wrong, we did not expect it
to be any different. It just confirms the state of the industry and that we
have gone the correct route. Imagine we spent R500 000 on this project and had
to recoup that via album sales. We would have been screwed,” says Wynand
Myburgh.
‘’We are extremely grateful to our loyal fans and the
intense love they have shown towards the band. We did not expect to have raised
this much in such a short time. Whether it was through selling T-shirts or
signed posters, it was done and we are grateful. Now, let’s go for gold,’’ says
Johnny de Ridder.
Fokofpolisiekar sets
a new target
This fact leads the band to a new target for the
crowdfunding campaign. They will attempt
to sell more units of the upcoming album in the next 47 days. Fokofpolisiekar would love to reach Gold
status with the pre-sales of 15 000 units from their Thundafund page. In their
14 year career they have never had a gold record and in South Africa not that
many artists achieve this, especially on the day first day of release.
They encourage everyone to take the step and back them by
pre-ordering either the digital MP3 album for only R80, the physical CD for
only R100 or the vinyl (a limited number is available at R350).
Fokofpolisiekar makes
a pledge to their fans
Fokofpolisiekar also wants to make a pledge to their fans.
If they reach R700 000, they will play a free show in Cape Town (on a first
come first serve basis) and if they reach R800 000 they will play a free show
in Gauteng (also on a first come first serve basis).
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