BigChampagne's Ultimate Chart (a/o February 10th):
1. “What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger),” Kelly Clarkson
2. “Set Fire to the Rain,” Adele
3. “Turn Me On,” David Guetta
4. “Rack City,” TYGA
5. “Good Feeling,” Flo Rida
6. “Smooth Criminal (Glee Cast Version),” Glee Cast
7. “Young, Wild & Free,” Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
8. “Domino ,” Jessie J
9. “Sexy and I Know It,” LMFAO
10. “Ass Back Home ,” Gym Class Heroes
The curious concept of fan-funded music continues to percolate, thanks to the recent coming-out of London-based Pledge Music. According to details tipped to Digital Music News by the company over the weekend, the startup involves British A&R brain Malcolm Dunbar. Pledge (pledgemusic.com) officially launches later this month, and jumps into a field already populated by the likes of Slicethepice and SellaBand. Dunbar has plucked talent for a number of big labels, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and V2.
Captaining the initiative will be founder and CEO Benji Rogers, a longtime struggling musician looking to tilt the equation a bit. " Musicians will get the funding and promotional support that they need, and the fan will get the music that they want at the price that they want to pay," Rogers described. Other executives involved in the model include former Rough Trade and Sanctuary marketing director Dan Symons; former Warner Music, London Records and V2 Records A&R coordinator Cecelia Lewis; A&R consultant Rich Lynne and A&R scout Ryan Lofthouse.
But will this model hold water? Pledge is opting to allow artists to keep all royalties, perhaps the only reasonable approach given the level of options that musicians currently enjoy. But that makes it difficult to benefit from downstream success stories, and helps to flatten longer-term value growth. The company is also encouraging lots of charitable donations, while planning to charge low, flat-rate commissions.
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