Fan-funding Gave Us the Push over the Cliff

Epyllion reached their target on SellaBand at the end of January. And now they already deliver their album “Chance Encounters” to their fans. That’s what I call a fast production. But seriously, you can listen to the album on several music platforms and on Epyllion’s Facebook profile. And it’s really worth a listen.

I talked to Eric St-Cyr, singer and guitarist of the band, how the album was received and about their further plans.

50K M: You have finished work on your album „Chance Encounter“ lately. Are you satisfied with the result?
Eric: I’ve honestly never been so satisfied with an album.  I’ve done a few studio albums with different acts, and so have the other guys in the band, but nothing that compares to this.  It really is a great showcase of where we are at as a band, and what we’re trying to do with our music.  It’s not an album that fans of heavy stuff will like, and at the same time, if you’re looking for just fluff, this isn’t it either.  It ended up being a great mix of pop/rock, songwriting and talented musicians.  I’m really proud of everybody in the band for what we accomplished!

50K M: People can listen to your album since the end of April. What kind of feedback did you get from your fans?
Eric: We’ve taken five of the twelve songs on the album and have posted it on our various internet portals, and so far the reaction has been great.  Everybody has really understood not only the subtle change in music, but we’ve received strong feedback from everybody that have known us as a band from day one.  We used to have a grittier, looser sound, and our new stuff is very tight and polished, and everybody seems to be eating it up, and wanting the cd sooner than later!

50K M: You are terribly busy with sending all the CDs and tees out to your SellaBand believers at the moment. Is there any time for sleep?
Eric: I’m ever busier than you can imagine – and honestly, sending out our cds, tshirts etc., while it is definitely in my top 5 priorities, can’t unfortunately out weigh the business I run, or my family at home.  I’ve been pacing myself, making sure I send out at least 10 every day, so we should have everything sent out by the end of the month!  Every day a few new people get back to me with their mailing info, and I’m still waiting on a few believers to send their info.  So, if you’re reading this, and haven’t sent your mailing info yet – get on it!  It’s up to you to provide that so we can send you this cd!

50K M: What are your plans for album promotion now?
Eric: Once June 4th, the release date of the cd hits, and we go through our initial wave of sales, that is when we’ll start putting together a promotional plan.  As for right now, I’m just trying to get those pre-releases out to the believers!  From there, we’re mainly looking for movie placements, and promoting the album online to various music communities.

50K M: How about touring? Will we see you on stage soon?
Eric: Well, that depends who you consider “we”.  Are we coming over to Europe anytime soon?  Well, if somebody would like to make that financially possible for 5 band members, then we’ll gladly come over.  As for now, we’ll be playing around in Canada, the usual places such as Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto.  We’ve got some prime showcase gigs lined up for the summer in our home town and nearby, which we hope will get us in the spotlight of some new fans.

50K M: Do you think fan-funding is a sustainable way to finance your music? Would you go this way again?
Eric: Fan funding was a great idea for this debut studio album.  It gave us the push over the cliff to make the album a reality.  However, our plans are to use any profits we receive from this album to fund the next venture ourselves.  It’s not that fan-funding isn’t appealing to us, but I can’t help but feel guilty about it.  I suppose we were all raised to not ask for any handouts, which is why I can’t help but feel like that’s what we’ve done for some of it.  That is why we made sure that people were properly rewarded with tons of incentives – we constantly gave away mp3s throughout the process, and all the cds, tshirts, guitars that we’re sending out is the only way I can justify using these peoples money!  So studio album #2 will most likely be done completely on our own dime, but hopefully all the believers will still buy the album for 10$, despite not having a vested interest in owning shares.

Album Review Competition

Write a review of Epyllion’s album “Chance Encounters” for 50K MUSIC and win two tickets for a gig of your choice.* Send your review to mario(at)50kmusic.com or leave a comment here.

* You should write a review with at least 100 words, I will choose the best written review, the winner gets two tickets for a gig of an artist featured here on 50K MUSIC (see tags), the value of the tickets is limited to 50 €.

Tags: Epyllion, Review Competition