Financing a Musical Passion
Composer Aaron Grad of Seattle, Washington, used the crowd-sourcing site Kickstarter.com to raise money for his latest project: building a unique instrument and producing an album.
Why did you become a composer? I grew up in an incredibly musical household. I was surrounded by instruments and always listening to great music. I was drawn to music and started playing guitar, writing songs and forming bands.
Tell us about your current project. I’m building a one-of-a-kind instrument called an electric theorbo for my new album and for performances. The instrument is an electric version of a 14-string baroque lute. Building the theorbo involved significant upfront costs, so I decided to do a Kickstarter campaign to raise $5,000.
What did your fund-raising pitch involve? It required making a short video. After I posted it on Kickstarter, I e-mailed my friends, put the video on my Web site and Facebook, and spread the word by phone to let people know what was happening. I was shocked by how quickly it came together. I hit my goal after about two weeks and made more than $400 beyond that. It was touching to see how generous people were.
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How did you make your first album, The Father Book? The inspiration for the songs comes from a clavichord my father built when he was a young man. He was a keyboard player and loved baroque music. I had the instrument with me in Brooklyn while I was studying jazz at NYU. By that point my father had died, so this was a very tangible connection I had to him. I recorded everything at home in my little studio with one microphone. The only professional help I had was in getting it mastered.
What did you learn from that experience? I lost some money in the process of making the album. It showed me that I couldn’t keep losing money on these big dream projects of mine.
What else do you do? I make most of my income as an artistic consultant, writing program notes for orchestras and classical music organizations. It’s an excellent day job.
How would you advise someone pursuing a passion? Do what it takes to earn money when it’s time to earn money, and be brave enough to take risks when it’s time to take risks.
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