Album Release Date on May 11, 2018 Includes a Concert at Coffee and Cotton in Lowell, MA
Award-winning composer and vocalist, Morgan Minsk, blends Christian and folk-soul music in her first album release titled, “Praise.” The 24-year-old entrepreneur and Berklee alum raised $25k through a successful Kickstarter campaign to produce and market her new album. The May 11, 2018 release date includes an album release concert on the same day at Coffee and Cotton at 8PM in Lowell, MA. Minsk recently talked about what made her Kickstarter campaign and launch successful and what she would change the next time around.
Campaign Strategy and Launch Preparation
A few weeks before even launching the campaign, Minsk researched successful Kickstarter campaigns, she read crowdfunding advice blogs, learned how to set amounts, and market the campaign itself. She first announced the campaign to “close, loyal friends and family” who she could trust to build momentum on the very first day. Minsk “also sent emails to tastemakers,” these were people she knew personally who could bring awareness to the campaign by posting it on their blogs, Facebook pages, and via Twitter and Instagram feeds.
A month before launching the campaign, Minsk sat down and made a year-long timeline of everything required for the successful launch of the album in May 2018. The campaign’s progress was steady and took wind in June 2017.
“It took about the whole month of June to raise the original $23K goal,” said Minsk. “Ironically, we hit that number on June 23rd. It continued to climb after that both online and through cash/checks people handed to me directly. In the end her team raised $25K!”
Incentives and Marketing
Minsk sat down to brainstorm a list of potential incentives that would really attract the type of listeners she was marketing to. These included private house shows, t-shirts, signed albums, handwritten lyric sheets, executive producer credit, having an original song written for the backer, and more. Her initial homework preparation was a success!
“The money has covered everything from recording to PR, praise the Lord! I needed to move around some numbers for sure, but everything has lined up nicely,” said Minsk.
Minsk Shares Tips for Young Musicians
Minsk advises other young musicians to restrain themselves from excitedly launching a Kickstarter page without doing extensive research and planning beforehand. She gave herself a month to research the best practices, make a game plan, and set out a timeline for the album's creation. However, looking back she feels this was not enough time and that 2-6 months out is a better timespan to get more momentum rolling with advertising and planning. Minsk also strongly recommends recording and saving everything, from big purchases like studio time, down to the little things like guitar picks.
“Make sure you save every email and receipt in a designated Gmail folder labeled "Kickstarter Documents." This has saved me lots of time when needing to look up information quickly for taxes, etc.,” said Minsk.
Click here to pre-order “Praise”
Click here RSVP to Morgan’s Album Release Party on May 11, 8pm at Coffee and Cotton in Lowell, MA