Everything changed for the metal band Archspire after they announced their exit from their record label, Season of Mist. Having built a fiercely loyal following, the technical death metal band decided to go fully independent for their next record. Now, they’re rowing their own boat — but making it in the industry isn’t cheap. Naturally, the band decided to launch a Kickstarter to cover their upfront costs.
On the post, the group meticulously broke down everything the money would be spent on, including studio time, t-shirt designs and professional photography. Here’s the full rundown.
What Does It Cost To Release a Professional Album Including Merch?
- Studio time with Dave Otero (second session): $14,350
- Studio accommodations (second session): $1,620
- Studio living expenses (second session): $3,000
- Flights: $1,400
- Album artwork (second payment): $1,166
- Album CD, vinyl and tape layout: $1,000
- Band photos (Alex Morgan incl. flights): $2,500
- PR, marketing, advertising: $15,000
- Music videos: $30,000
- Lyric video: $750
- Additional studio musician fees: $3,000
- Behind the scenes documentary (2nd payment): $3,600
- Vinyl production (1250 units): $24,450
- CD production (750 units): $3,810
- Archspire patches (500 units): $1,335
- Staytech pins (500 units): $1,000
- Posters incl. poster tubes (300 units): $873
- T-shirts (750 units): $7,500
- Wall flags (300 units): $2,223
- Lyric book (300 units): $2,400
Within 12 hours, the band has hugely surpassed its $126,000 target. At the time of writing, the Kickstarter total stands at $299,139. The band offered eleven tiers of benefits for people who contributed to the fundraiser.
However, the band has also faced considerable backlash for the move, with many dubbing the Kickstarter a “scam.” Unwilling to take this lying down, guitarist Dean Lamb made a 20-minute video entitled ‘Addressing the backlash.’
Archspire Breaks Down Why Making A Record Costs So Much
In the clip, he justifies the band’s need for the cash by pointing out that there’s a key difference between a local band and a professional band. “Nothing against local bands, but we just wanted to make our band bigger and to go on tour across the world and bill ourselves as a headliner,” Lamb said. “We wanted to do all these things and we quickly realized the best way to do that was to look at ourselves as a professional band.”
To Lamb, part of being a professional band is paying rates for high-quality services. “Anybody who is in the field who is any good, they have a rate,” he said. “And I think that most of the time they are worth what they are charging,”
He continued: “From the first few years of our band, we realized that things like that make a difference. You find somebody that you want to work with because they give you great results and you don’t rely on people for freebies. You pay somebody what they’re worth.”
In the video, Lamb also acknowledged that crowdfunders have failed spectacularly in the past. However, according to Lamb, crowdfunding is “something that [they] are dead set on doing properly.” He claimed that the band studied successful campaigns as they were building their own.
Lamb then went on to add that, as a “younger band,” they wouldn’t be able to afford what they needed. “That’s what this Kickstarter thing is all about,” he added. “We want to go get the best people at what they do to help us make the best album we can possibly make so that our fans are really really stoked. It seems pretty simple to me.”
Why Go Independent Now?
Concluding the video, Lamb said, “All that we want to do as a band is continue to make the stuff that we love to make and reaching out to fans seems like the best way to do it independently. Before this we had a label that would give us an advance for the record and that would be great, but in the end you’re selling the rights to the music you created.”
He added: “I’m 37 years old now, I’ve been doing it long enough now. Selling the rights to the music that I spent so many years creating, I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to own it. We all want to own it, each one of us.
Recently, Taylor Swift was able to buy back the rights to her master recordings. While her music is worlds away from Archspire, it’s easy to draw parallels, as the band also wants to purchase their masters. However, Swift had to pay $360 million to get her masters back, which, while a head-spinning amount for us, probably didn’t even put a dent in her fortune.
Compared to Archspire, it’s clear that Swift has significantly more financial privilege, and with that in mind, the band turning to Kickstarter makes a lot of sense. Fundamentally, every artist should have the rights to their own music, and Archspire shouldn’t be criticized for turning to one of the few options available to them.
