Bringing Dexter Peterson To Life
- Category: Artists
- Published on Thursday, 26 January 2012 22:14
- Written by Mario
- Hits: 156
Additional Info
This incredible man has raised almost 2,500 bucks in just 24 hours ... on his own ... from his fans ... without the help of a crowdfunding platform. I would label Matthew Ebel as a multi-level promoter and extraordinary musician who goes quite unusual ways to finance his music. Here' what he told me about his Dexter Peterson project...
50K MUSIC: I've noticed that you raised 2,500 $ overnight for your album production and thought this could be a story for 50K MUSIC :)
Matthew: And actually, the show prep has been usurped by zombie killing at the request of several fans/friends. Who am I to argue? Well it's as much a surprise to me as anyone.
50K MUSIC: How did it come that you've got this money so fast?
Matthew: Well somewhere lurking in the ranks of my supporters and fans, someone who apparently has a lot of money decided they wanted to make this album happen. In a big way. The mastering fundraising reached over $2,000 thanks to only three donors. Since then it's become six. It blows my mind how some people can decide to throw that kind of money at an independent piano rocker, but I ain't complaining. I wish I could say that it happened through tons of people donating a mere $5 each. But I guess it goes to show that you should never judge the effectiveness of an artist's fan base on the number of people alone.
50K MUSIC: That's true. Can you tell something about your album "The Lives of Dexter Peterson" ... the idea behind?
Matthew: I wrote an entry for NaNoWriMo about 6 years ago based on a short story I sketched out in college. I didn't do anything with the novella in the past six years, but the more I thought about it the more I felt like it needed to become a bigger project. The story is about a boy named Dexter Peterson (obviously) who inexplicably finds himself jumping into other lives, other realities. It's not like he's becoming other people, he's just a different person. He's always Dexter Peterson, but he could be anything from a spaceship captain to an Antartic explorer to... well, a dolphin.
50K MUSIC: This could be a nice story for a comic :) ... but what is NaNoWriMo ... never heard of this.
Matthew: Google it for details on NaNoWriMo, but I thought it'd be a nice story for a comic as well. Hence why I teamed up with Genesis Whitmore to do a graphic novel rendition of the story. When the project's done, I'll have a novella, graphic novel, music album, and audiobook.
50K MUSIC: Sounds great ... seems like you're multi-level promoter
Matthew: I try to be. Well, I try to earn enough money so I can hire someone ELSE to be, but I have to do it myself in the mean time. ;)
50K MUSIC: Am I right when I remember you hanging around on SellaBand a while ago?
Matthew: Tragically, yes.
50K MUSIC: Why tragically?
Matthew: Because when Sellaband collapsed they may have seriously damaged my credibility. When a fan donates money towards a new album and then finds out that their money has vanished into thin air, they're not likely to support you again. It didn't help that the refund process got f#+*~cked up as well, causing some people who had received Paypal refunds to suddenly find that Paypal had pulled the money back out of their bank accounts, in some cases overdrawing them.
50K MUSIC: That's really tragic :( But meanwhile there are loads of fan funding platforms ... why do you try raising funds on your own?
Matthew: Because I know my costs are minimal… the bottom goal was less than $1,000. Why would I give kickstarter 10% of my fundraising for something that small? It doesn't cost $10,000 to make an album these days. Any band that's spending that kind of money is wasting their money. The only real COST is in CD manufacturing and promotion. For $10,000 you can buy all the studio equipment you need to make a good album. I've released 8 or more full albums, I think… if I spent even half that kind of cash per album on studio equipment, I could just hire an engineer to mix in my own home studio.
50K MUSIC: One more question about the Lives of Dexter project. On your website the progress of the fund raising is shown. Why does it show only 398.85 $ and not 2,500?
Matthew: As it says at http://matthewebel.com/help - there are a few donors who have contributed outside of Paypal, which means the Chipin widget isn't accurate but my hand-made graphic is. Well, it could be MORE accurate, but honestly since the main goals have been met I don't care. Anything more that's raised is just determining how elaborate a CD package I can have made.
50K MUSIC: You've started something like a subscription system for your fans on matthewebel.net. How does it work?
Matthew: Well it pays the bills. ;) And it's not like a subscription system, it IS a subscription system. The how-it-works part can easily be found at https://matthewebel.net/about-matthew-ebel-dot-net/ And wow, do I need to update the graphics on that page. The short version is that people sign up for a monthly or yearly account and get everything from live recordings to new song sketches to new albums, annual goodie bags, etc. It all depends on what level of support they want to offer.
50K MUSIC: So people can make use of it even if they're not based in the Boston area where they can see you on stage?
Matthew: Actually, the whole point was to reach people who weren't local. The initial idea was just a way to get live concert bootlegs without following me around the country. It grew from there to what is basically perpetual fan-funding... a sort of homemade ongoing kickstarter. I try to provide as much value for my subscribers as I possibly can and in return they make regular payments.
50K MUSIC: And it seems to work well :)
Matthew: Well, I really need to quadruple my subscriber base to earn a comfortable living, but for now it's adequate. And, obviously, my fans love the hell out of me. Almost as much as I love them!
50K MUSIC: Do you have any other new projects in the pipeline for 2012?
Matthew: Nothing official... the goal for 2012 is to play a LOT more nerd conventions (sci-fi, fantasy, video game, etc.) And try to survive the current economy.
50K MUSIC: Such conventions are not the usual venues for a piano rocker, are they?
Matthew: No, but they are for the kinds of people that like my music. I never hung out in piano bars, I hang out on Steam and IRC and the like.
50K MUSIC: Cool approach ;)
Matthew: We'll see... I haven't started booking yet. ;) In any case, we're now pouring drinks for some zombie killing. It ain't german beer, but it's still tasty. :)
50K MUSIC: Thank you so much for answering my questions ... anything I've forgotten to ask?
Matthew: Not that I can think of, ....
