Times are tough for creative people. Consumers are used to getting their entertainment for free or maybe low cost. You can listen to music all day on Spotify or watch movies on Netflix for a few bucks per month. Some will use less legitimate means to avoid even that cost. If you are a new author or music artist then you will not have the big distribution deals that pay for getting a product together. This is where crowdfunding can come in. Sites like Kickstarter have launched thousands of products as well as creative content. Here are a few examples I have helped fund.
The first I bought a while back, but only read fairly recently. This is a novel written by Hive's 
This was a Kickstarter project. We have the potential to do this on Hive, but it needs to reach people beyond this platform. I was intrigued as I may not have read much by African writers and I expected a different feel to it. It is a tale of crime, politics and dark magic. I really do not want to give too much away, but you should check it out. I got the e-book as the hard copy was not available here. You still get the full impact of the wonderful illustrations. It reminded me of some old novels I have read that had the odd picture to illustrate key moments. This story has plenty of twists and will keep you guessing.
Another book from Kickstarter is Drawn to Key West which is by the artist behind the Ithaqa graphic novel written by 
These other items are not Hive-related. I am a huge fan of the author Douglas Adams who gave us The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and other fantasy worlds. I saw this project to pull together lots of items from his archive that have not been generally seen. He wrote for TV shows including Doctor Who and penned all sorts of articles. It has some of his letters too.
This is a hefty 'coffee table' book and a lovely thing in itself.
My copy is signed by the editor and my name is included in the back in a big list of backers. This is not my first time getting named in a book that is funded this way.
The documents are all nicely presented with additional notes. This is something I will be enjoying for a while.
Finally we get to some music. I have been following a band called The Fierce and the Dead since they started. I have seen them live many times and bought all their music. Much of that is signed and I have a bunch of t-shirts too. Their latest recording is News From The Invisible World and it marks a departure from their previous works that were entirely instrumental, apart from two words in one song.
This album has singing all the way through is bassist Kev showing he has a great voice. It is still definitely the same back with the intricate guitar parts and amazing drumming. I think the fans have been very receptive to this new direction.
I went for the deluxe pack that includes the album on pink vinyl, a bonus CD (signed) of alternative versions, a badge, a sticker, a shirt and a handwritten book of the lyrics. This really is something special. There are only ten of this set out there with the lyrics book.
This is a bit of a story to how I got mine. The pressing of the vinyl got delayed and it was due to be delivered whilst I was away. I was hoping the delivery people would put it somewhere safe for my neighbour to retrieve. I got a text on the day linking to the Royal Mail site that has a photo of the package where it had been left and I did not recognise that place at all. However the neighbour said he had my package. When I got back home I discovered that what he had was the Douglas Adams book and the LP was nowhere to be seen. When I looked again at the Royal Mail site I saw it also had a map that showed it had been delivered to somewhere in London that is nowhere near me. I contacted the band and Kev was puzzled too. He said they had kept spares in case of such mistakes and he soon got it to me.
Today I played the record and it sounds great. It really is a quality album. They have released all their music through Bandcamp that allows you to download digital copies too.
I will be seeing the band live again next month along with my friend 
You can argue that I have paid more than I need to for these items, but without the fans being prepared to put up the money they might not have happened. I do okay and could fund these purchases purely from what I make on Hive. I do hope that I will be able to buy more things directly with HBD in future, but I will go with whatever the artists choose to use to reach their audience.
Hive five!
