A while ago we talked with The bianca Story when they were digging a hole through music industry on wemakeit.ch. Now we have interviewed Rea Eggli, one of the co-founders of wemakeit. We talked about why musicians should join the platform and the Swisscom Music Booster for Swiss bands and musicians …

50K MUSIC: When have you started wemakeit and what were the reasons for that?
Rea: We went online with wemakeit beginning of 2012 as the first reward based crowdfunding platform in switzerland, which answers also the question about the reason why: we wanted to bring crowdfunding to Switzerland!

50K MUSIC: … and how’s business so far?
Rea: We had an excellent start and are pleased with the development so far. And have a handful to do.

50K MUSIC: There are a number of crowdfunding platforms in Europe nowadays. Where do you see the pros of wemakeit?
Rea: Wemakeit focusses on creative projects and has the highest success rate of the german speaking countries and probably also one of the highest if not the highest in Europe with almost 70%. We offer the project initiators free consulting online as well as in workshops or one-to-one meetings if required and requested. We are multilingual (as so is Switzerland) and have a team in the french speaking part of Switzerland, one in the german speaking part of Switzerland where our Headquarters are, and people working for us on the grounds in Berlin and new also in Vienna.

50K MUSIC: Why should musicians join wemakeit?
Rea: The average pledge amount is high compared to US or Germany, meaning that if the projects are good and the rewards are promising, it could be a good match for the artists and the wemakeit community. Also because we reach out to an active audience in the entire german speaking part of Europe as well as the french part of Switzerland. And we do support all the campaigns with tips, do’s and dont’s not just before they go online but also during the entire duration of the campaign.

50K MUSIC: It seems like you’re focussing on Swiss artists and musicians. Is that right?
Rea: No we are not focussing on swiss artists and musicians, but as we are based in Switzerland, we do have a majority of swiss projects by nature. We implemented the EURO currency more than a year ago and are happy to take on creative projects from Europe as we do as we speak. And we are also open to environmental projects, technology gadgets, design products, social initiatives, etc.

50K MUSIC: You’re about to start the Swisscom Music Booster in January next year. Please tell us a bit about that campaign.
Rea: Swisscom supports new music talents from Switzerland through a novel and interactive approach to sponsoring. Whether it is a campaign for new equipment, a tour, a special concert, a CD or videoclip or name others, Swisscom funds 20 campaigns who reach 33% of their funding goals with an second third (max 3,000 Swiss Francs). The Swisscom Music Booster starts on January 7th and bands can submit their campaigns now on wemakeit.com

50K MUSIC: What are your other plans with wemakeit for the next few months?
Rea: We are working on new or advanced features like the mobile version and are opening up our office in Vienna in January.