Bandzoogle Adds Commission-Free Crowdfunding With Direct Payments To Artists [EXCLUSIVE]

Music website platform Bandzoogle has added crowdfunding to its commission-free sales toolkit. The move comes just weeks after crowdfunder PledgeMusic left musicians owed hundreds of thousands of dollars already paid by fans and many more without a platform to crowdfund their next project.

Now in its 15 year, Bandzoogle powers more than 37,000 music websites with plans that now include crowdfunding starting at  $8.29 per month, including a free custom domain.

The new template offers many of Bandzoogle’s built-in features to help musicians and bands easily create a crowdfunding campaign.

All transactions are commission free with payments going directly to the artist. Funds are processed through Stripe or PayPal and go directly into the artist’s account. On Bandzoogle’s Pro plan, pre-order sales are also reported to SoundScan on the day the music is released.

With the template, musicians and labels can take donations, process album pre-orders, bundle digital music with CDs or vinyl, and create custom merch bundles and experiences in limited quantities by using the built-in Store with inventory tracking. Artists can also have an intro video, FAQs, and keep their fans updated with the built-in mailing list and blog features.

“We want to make it easier for musicians to put our built-in tools into context to help with crowdfunding their projects,” said Stacey Bedford, Bandzoogle’s CEO. “We feel it’s important that artists can use a crowdfunding tool that doesn’t take any commission from sales, and that doesn’t touch the financial transaction. This way artists can be assured that the money their fans pledge to their campaign is reaching them directly, and immediately.”

New users to Bandzoogle can select the crowdfunding preset page template when first building their site. Current members can add a new page, then select the crowdfunding preset template.

Using its custom URL feature, new users could also add the crowdfunding template to their existing non-Bandzoogle site.