‘News / Article’ Articles

How superfans drive the entertainment business

Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Getty Images, via Pono Music

This is hardcore, says Slate .

Superfans are driving the entertainment business. Neil Young’s Pono digital musical player has raised more than $4 million from fans on Kickstarter. Yikes.

The lead in the article talks about Neil but the rest is a tale of how things fans are driving the things they love through these sorts of campaigns.

It’s been a big month for small projects on Kickstarter, writes Slate author Jon Nathanson. First a consortium of musicians and industry veterans, fronted by Neil Young, used the site to launch Pono, a digital music player and download service. Young and his partners set a fundraising goal of $800,000, to be reached within 35 days.

Instead, they met that goal in under a day, then broke $2.5 million in their first 60 hours. At the time of this writing, Pono has exceeded $4 million in pledges. (The campaign will run through April 15; Pono is scheduled to launch in October.)

A few days later, Warner Bros. released a Veronica Mars movie in theaters and online. The film grossed $2 million at only 291 theaters worldwide, with a healthy $6,945 per-screen average. The movie owed its existence to Kickstarter—Rob Thomas, creator of the original TV series, raised $5.7 million on Kickstarter last year to fund production of the feature.

überfans.

Nathanson writes: “But crowdfunding isn’t catering to the mainstream crowd. When 3 million of us pledged $480 million to Kickstarter projects in 2013, we didn’t establish any new industries or shake up any old ones. Instead, we identified ourselves as the early adopters: the hardcores, the überfans. We’re the kind of people who, in absence of Kickstarter, would have bought the special edition of a Veronica Mars DVD or paid extra for better seats at a Neil Young concert. We’re the kind of people who download all the value-added content in our favorite video games. When something’s labeled “collectible,” we’re the ones collecting it.”

Read more at: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_bet/2014/03/kickstarter_neil_young_veronica_mars_how_hard_core_fans_drive_the_entertainment.html

Tags: Kickstarter, pono, Ponomusic
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Neil Young Delays Time Fades Away Reissue, Accompanying Box Set

Neil Young is too busy with other projects.

According to Pitchfork for this year’s Record Store Day, Neil Young had been planning to release a vinyl box set that included his long out-of-print 1973 record Time Fades Away, which will be reissued for the first time. The box, Official Release Series Discs 5-8 Vinyl Box Set, is also set to include his essential albums On the Beach, Tonight’s the Night, and Zuma.

The release date has now been pushed back from April 19 to a date in November, to be determined. According to a press release, the delay comes “due to several other projects that Young has in the works that he wishes to focus on.”

Read more at: http://pitchfork.com/news/54412-neil-young-delays-time-fades-away-reissue-accompanying-box-set/

Tags: On The Beach, Record Store Day, Time Fades Away, Tonight's the Night, Vinyl Box Set, Zuma
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Neil Young adds two Chicago shows

Neil Young will play in two shows in Chicago next month at the Chicago Theater.

Monday, April 21 and Tuesday, April 22.

Check out: http://www.neilyoung.com/tour.html

Pre-sale starts on Wed. March 19th at 10am EST.  Public on-sale starts on Sat. March 22nd at 12pm EST.

Get tix here: http://tix.concertmaps.com/neilyoung/

Tags: chicago, Chicago Theater, tour dates
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A message from Neil Young

Thanks everyone for all of your support. It has been and continues to be gratifying to me to see how many of you are supporting Pono and our revolution in the way people can listen. Now we will have a choice that is as convenient as it is great sounding. We are celebrating our Freedom of Choice. I especially want to thank Elliot Roberts for his tireless efforts to bring you the great signature artists we are offering with their special limited edition players. More signature artists seem to sign up every day! These artists love you to actually hear their creations exactly the way they were made. They, like myself, have been waiting a long time for Pono. My talent at signing posters is getting a great workout. I’m happy to report that most of my signatures are legible. Ha Ha. I don’t think there will be any more posters offered though! I just wanted to say thanks on behalf of everyone involved in PonoMusic. We could not have done this without you. Neil Young

Tags: Elliot Roberts, pono, Ponomusic
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Beam me up! Young writing sci-fi?

“Sometimes what I love is not what other people love, but that’s okay. It doesn’t matter. That’s why I’m still here.” ~N.Y.

In an interview with Spin Neil Young says he is penning a Sci-fi story.

After listening to Neil’s keynote address at SXSW on March 11, 2014, SPIN sat down with Young in a suite at an out-of-the-way hotel in Austin to talk music, sound, saturation, retro-tech, new albums, and writing.

And then I’m writing another book right now, which is a science fiction book. I’m well into it, maybe 100 pages.

When do you like to write? I write on airplanes and in hotels. It keeps me off the street.

What’s the science-fiction book about?

Hmmm.

Do we have to wait? It’s great. I think it’s better to wait. It’s crazy to talk about. Too fucking weird. But it’s great, I love it. I love writing sci-fi. I’m enjoying the hell out of it.

Wow!

Read the entire interview at: http://www.spin.com/#articles/neil-young-pono-music-new-album-a-letter-home-sxsw-2014-interview/

Shar out!

Tags: A Letter Home, Jack White, pono, Ponomusic, retro-tech, South by Southwest Festival, Spin, SWSW
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