October 1, 2010

Jango Airplay & Slicethepie


This week we're excited to announce the launch of a unique partnership between Jango Airplay and Slicethepie, the leading fan financing platform.

Going forward, the top PopScore artist each week will receive fast track access to the exclusive Jango/Slicethepie financing program in order to raise between $10,000 and $25,000 from their fans. This opportunity means that the top PopScore artist each week gets to bypass the normal stringent qualification criteria on Slicethepie.

We grabbed David Courtier-Dutton, Slicethepie’s CEO, to find out why this takes
fan-funding to a whole new level and what this means for top rated Jango Airplay artists.

Hi David, tell us about Slicethepie?

It’s a financing and music promotion platform that allows music fans to finance new artists to help them record an EP or Album. So far 30 artists have raised over $700,000 between them with one, Scars on 45, recently signing a multi album record deal with Atlantic Records/Chop Shop.

What are the benefits of raising finance through Slicethepie?

All cash received is non-recoupable, you keep 100% of the rights to your music and 100% of the revenues from the sale of your tracks. You just pay a 10% admin fee of funds raised and give your avid supporters a range of music and merch based on how much they support you. More importantly, financing through Slicethepie gives direct access to the industry – for instance Slicethepie has a deal with Fontana/Universal under which artists financed get promoted to up to 80 US record labels, in addition you’ll be evaluated by a major independent publisher for a publishing deal and be exposed to countless sync opportunities going forward. It’s also proven to help artists build strong relationships with their fans, which longer term means if they like what you deliver, they’ll come back for more, come see you live, etc etc.

Financing on Slicethepie allows you to take creative control without having ties or complicated contracts. Finally, when you hit your financing target you’ll get complimentary subscriptions to a range of premium marketing tools including SoundOut, Nimbit, Tunecore, SoundCloud and Sonicbids plus more spins on Jango.... so think of this an opportunity to get a step ahead with your music.

What makes the Jango/Slicethepie tie up special?

There are tens of thousands of artists on Slicethepie and millions of user reviews determine who makes it through to the financing stage, typically only around 1 in 1,000 artists qualify for financing. With the new Jango Showcase the top rated Jango artists bypass this filter – they have proved their popularity on Jango and so automatically qualify for financing. On top of this, Jango and Slicethepie will be actively promoting the showcased Jango artists to attract as much support as possible to help them reach their target – this is support that money cannot buy. There are a number of stand alone fan financing sites out there, but it takes more than just cash to carve out a successful career in music.

For the first time fan financing is being combined with active audience and industry promotion.

This is great news for emerging artists!