Tired of your favorite musical artist skipping over your town every tour in favor of major hubs like New York City and Los Angeles? Now you may have a say in the matter.
A new campaign by a crowdfunding website called Detour now lets fans decide where their favorite bands will play, allowing artists to perform at new venues while minimizing the risk that they’ll be playing to empty rooms.
The site is currently collaborating with indie artist Andrew Bird to crowdfund a six-city Latin American tour for the singer. Bird, a multi-instrumentalist who has achieved significant success around the world, has only performed in Latin America twice because information on audience demand in the region is somewhat unknown. Thanks to Detour’s campaign, which is being run by the site Songkick, he’ll soon know for sure where demand for his music lies in the area.
The site works by allowing fans to pre-order their tickets, which are only charged if a certain threshold is reached and the concert actually occurs. Songkick’s profit will later come out of ticket sales after all expenses have been paid to the artists themselves and local promoters who help put on the shows.
Bird’s campaign, which went live on Tuesday, allows the songwriter’s Latin American fans to bid for him to play in their cities during his February tour. Twelve cities are in contention for a tour stop, including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, Brazil, Bogota, Colombia, and Lima, Peru. The six cities with the most provisional ticket sales will score the concerts.
“The hope is that a handful of superfans could take it upon themselves to market the show beyond purchasing the ticket” Erik Selz, Bird’s booking agent told the New York Times. “They’ll have a stake in having the tour land in their city.”
Want Andrew Bird in Your Town? Try Crowdfunding [NYT]
Image: Steve Jurvetson/Flickr
