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Hello, Due to recent events with the band Alice Nine, I have been thinking more about Crowd-Funding and other techniques that bands or artist`s can use to take alternate approaches to releasing music, and working in the industry. I am sure many of us have different opinions, and have also heard our fair share about seemingly noble causes, as well as doubtful or downright disagreeable cases of crowd-funds / Kickstarter`s. Here is a quick Questionnaire that may make posting easier, although you can obviously feel free to write in any format, and talk about any area of music from across the globe. Do you trust Crowd-Funds? Have you ever given money to any form of Crowd-Fund? What band`s do you think you would support if they had a Crowd-Funded project? What do you think your donation range would be? (Be honest, you don`t have to worry about being seen as a cheap-skate, and don`t have to be Mr. / Mrs. Moneybags.) Are special awards or gifts valuable to you? (Early access to tracks, special messages from the band (or whoever), other perks, etc...) Do you think crowd-funding is a sustainable practice (can it be used often or only on occasion), and that many bands can use it at the same time, or does it present an even greater price-tag to fans? If Crowd-Funding became more popular, would that create a greater wealth gap in the music industry, where more popular bands can sustain more releases and advertisement, while smaller bands can not succeed or compete, and labels are not as profitable so fewer bands can actually exist on a visible level? What do you think of Alice Nine`s project so far? Any notable musical crowd-funds you want to mention (worldwide or Japanese, though they are different markets)? Should a Crowd-Funded release be free? Or should it only be free for those who donate? Does crowd-funding affect your view on downloading a release? ----- Still thinking it over myself, so I may post mine again later, though so far: Do you trust Crowd-Funds? I don`t trust them, I don`t believe it is always ethical to market towards regular consumers to invest in something that is a dangerous market for even the most skilled Venture Capitalist`s or Angel Investors Have you ever given money to any form of Crowd-Fund? No, I have invested in other ventures but not Crowd-Funds. What band`s do you think you would support if they had a Crowd-Funded project? As for band`s that I would support at the moment, not sure, but the angle A9 is coming from is more of an inspiring one, where they are trying to get back to being themselves, so I would be more inclined to support band`s that are coming from similar situations as opposed to ones that may come off as simply unable to secure record contracts. What do you think your donation range would be? (Be honest, you don`t have to worry about being seen as a cheap-skate, and don`t have to be Mr. / Mrs. Moneybags.) For music, if I really did donate, it would be somewhere reasonable to me, although I am already feeling that the gifts handed out for A9 in particular are tempting! Are special awards or gifts valuable to you? (Early access to tracks, special messages from the band (or whoever), other perks, etc...) Yep, as mentioned above, if the gifts are good, it can kind of hustle you into raising your donation, even for a shrewd spender... Ten or twenty bucks more and I get this!? Do you think crowd-funding is a sustainable practice (can it be used often or only on occasion), and that many bands can use it at the same time, or does it present an even greater price-tag to fans? Anything can happen, but at the moment, not on a large scale. I think, like everything else the audience will eventually turn against it, and move on to the new thing they want or think is best for business. If Crowd-Funding became more popular, would that create a greater wealth gap in the music industry, where more popular bands can sustain more releases and advertisement, while smaller bands can not succeed or compete, and labels are not as profitable so fewer bands can actually exist on a visible level? If it ever, theoretically moved to a larger scale, I think if not linked to the record industry it would diminish a certain part of the musical economy, and give a big advantage to bigger bands, where-as smaller bands would get lost in the mix. It might be harder to diversify yourself or convince an audience, and if you fail at raising funds, you are left with even less gained than if you flopped a record or tour. What do you think of Alice Nine`s project so far? Interesting, it can definitely be a milestone, especially for one of the biggest modern Visual Kei bands to succeed at it, and with such a message behind it that I think will connect with other bands. Ultimately I think it needs to move beyond crowd-funding though. Any notable musical crowd-funds you want to mention (worldwide or Japanese, though they are different markets)? Nope. Should a Crowd-Funded release be free? Or should it only be free for those who donate? Does crowd-funding affect your view on downloading a release? I think it can depend on the level of donation, obviously, but I am debating on the subject of charging again for a release. As for downloading, I feel like more people may think `we funded it, we should be able to do what we want with it`, and that for cases like A9, people may just release the tracks early to others, and also release the bonuses such as the HQ tracks, etc... So, I think despite people being positive about crowd-funds some will still want to dictate what is done with the music made. Thanks for reading (and possibly answering).

Abridged version of a very interesting article by Esquire. I posted the short version to make an easier digest, but please read the whole thing: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/gene-simmons-future-of-rock Please share your thoughts!