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Music Crowdfunding News: Alibaba’s Xiami, Pozible x Waterfront Records, Rallysong For Charity

Rallysong-logoMusic crowdfunding is clearly here to stay. New players are entering the scene, platforms are expanding and new forms are emerging. While we've already seen closures with additional platforms possibly operating in zombie mode, there is room for a wide range of companies in this area. How many remains to be seen but, for now, crowdfunding of just about everything appears to be in growth mode.

China's Alibaba Group Gets Into Concert Crowdfunding

According to a WSJ blog post, China's massive Alibaba Group is moving into a growing crowdfunding scene.

Last year Alibaba bought Xiami, a music streaming site. Recently Xiami ran its first concert crowdfunding campaign for Chinese musicians via Alibaba's Taobao, an online C2C shopping platform.

Smaller platforms are already established for crowdfunding, including a music-specific platform musikid.com, but there's some concern about the future since China has not created clear regulations for crowdfunding. Given that the charge of "illegal fund raising" covers a broad range of activities and, in some cases, is punishable by death, they have good reason to be concerned.

Crowdfunding seems like it would fit China's aspirations in many ways as long as the activity is not perceived as politically or socially controversial. Nevertheless until regulations are in place crowdfunding won't be able to reach its full potential.

Pozible Partners With Waterfront Records For Fulfillment

Australia's Pozible, which launched in the U.S. in the fall and then mostly disappeared from U.S. news, recently partnered with Waterfront Records, a retail subsidiary of MGM.

The partnership will allow musicians to do such things as fulfill crowdfunding rewards and get sales recorded for the Australian charts. It's a smart move and definitely the kind of thing music crowdfunding platforms should be doing to stay relevant over time.

It does appear to be only happening in Australia. I've got an email in to Waterfront Records and will update if I get a response.

But given that Pozible is now an international company that is continuing to expand into new territory, this is the kind of thing they need to start clarifying in their press releases and news posts.

Rallysong Crowdfunds For Charity With Music

Rallysong (logo above) is a new crowdfunding platform that's described as giving "music fans access to unreleased tracks or merchandise by crowdfunding for charitable causes."

It's also said to have launched at Sundance but, though there was an event, the site obviously hasn't launched. I just got an email after signing up for their newsletter that says it will be available in the "next couple months."

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Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/Facebook) is currently relaunching All World Dance. To suggest topics about music tech, DIY music biz or music marketing for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

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