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<\/center>Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cAnd,\u201d Clapp summarizes, \u201cThat’s what we’ve done ever since. We’re not going to become indebted to a label. If they want to help us out, and they’re offering something of value, we’ll partner with them.\u201d And for the project that would become Sun Moon<\/em>, the band decided to wade into the new world of crowd funding via Kickstarter.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had already gone down the road of deciding that we were going to manufacture our own product,\u201d Clapp recalls. But \u201cAt that point the one thing we were really hurting on financially was that we would be fronting the cost of manufacturing. Everything else is, for us, pretty low-cost.\u201d In late 2012, the record was done, and Clapp had designed enough conceptual artwork to work with. So the band decided that they were in \u201cthe perfect place to make Kickstarter work for us. We could give people an idea of what we were cookin’ up,\u201d Clapp says, \u201cand if they wanted to, they could help us out.\u201d<\/p>\n Clapp spent a solid week writing the proposal, filming a video and creating other collateral for the Kickstarter program. \u201cI treated it like my job,\u201d he says, \u201cfor the month of December.\u201d They initially decided to shoot for a funding goal of $4000, enough to cover a limited vinyl pressing and a first run of CDs. \u201cIf we get anything more,\u201d Clapp thought at the time, \u201cthis could even help fund our publicity campaign.\u201d Clapp laughs when he observes that \u201cI’m not sure that it was such a great idea to launch right before Christmas. We got a lot of feedback, and reached about half of our goal within about three days. And then it just sat there<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Clapp’s positive experience has convinced him that crowd funding platforms such as Kickstarter do indeed point a way forward for independent artists. \u201cIt’s viable for all sorts of artists,\u201d he believes. \u201cIt allows you to do what big businesses have always been able to do, which is to guarantee a pre-order level of sales that justifies you spending a certain amount of money up front.\u201d He observes that \u201cthere’s no other good way to do that right now\u201d for indie artists other than Kickstarter and programs like it. But he still sees a role in the mix for traditional record labels: \u201cI think there are always going to be record labels. Not all artists are going to want to \u2013 or have the expertise \u2013 to do everything that it takes. Writing, recording and designing a product is one thing. But as far getting the word out about it, labels that do a good job at that are always going to have a place.\u201d He specifically mentions licensing \u2013 a key means for songwriters to make real money \u2013 as an area of expertise in which labels like Minty Fresh excel.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the label that The Orange Peels founded \u2013 Mystery Lawn Music \u2013 is seeing its own roster grow. There’s overlap between the various and varied acts and projects; some of them are one-off projects, like The Fairwood Singers<\/strong><\/a>, while others are ongoing concerns but feature shifting lineups (like The Corner Laughers<\/strong><\/a>). But there does exist a unifying aesthetic that connects the various MLM artists. \u201cEveryone who’s involved [with Mystery Lawn] has a need or a want,\u201d Clapp observes, \u201cto form some sort of a musical community in the San Francisco area. This thing seemed to happen on its own, and it seems to work.\u201d In addition to everyone on the roster being \u201ca really talented singer., songwriter and\/or instrumentalist, we all happen to get along really well, too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would have loved for something like [Mystery Lawn] to have existed back in the 90s,\u201d Clapp sums up. \u201cBut now that it has come to exist, I’m really happy about that. I’m glad that people who have a like-minded approach to song-based music have a family. We all have a respect for songcraft, and I think, ultimately, that is what draws us all together.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/mystery_lawn_studio.jpg\")
<\/center>Clapp released some demos online to goose interest in the project, and then the funding \u201cinched up toward the goal, to around 70-80%. And then with two days to go [before the deadline] it went, ‘Boom!’\u201d Clapp believes that Kickstarter fits perfectly with the band’s model of being in business for itself. \u201cWe were able to fund something tangible: manufacturing. We were able to say, ‘We’ve done the creative work; we just need some help with this part.’\u201d He stresses that with a Kickstarter program, \u201cYou’re either going to succeed publicly, or you’re going to fail publicly.\u201d Clapp is clearly moved by the groundswell of support that Orange Peels fans provided for Sun Moon<\/em>. \u201cFor every stressful day that we sat there thinking, ‘Is this going to work?’, we were rewarded\u201d with fans’ financial support, Clapp says. \u201cWe’re so grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/mystery_lawn_logo.jpg\"){kind=logo}
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