In recent months, I have understood one thing: some people have prejudices against crowdfunding that deserve to be understood, before criticized. I discussed – quillly - with people who are opposed in principle to collective financing, and not to increase the business capital of Eterea and partners, but because intrigued by the logic of those who say NO to the practice itself.

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When I want and I can, I help other people's projects: festivals, militant collectives, opensource sites, friends' records or futuristic projects. I think it's a way to feel part of the life of other people I care about or who do things that I think are useful or cool. In some cases it can also be a bit of a paraculo way to be supported in my turn, much more real than an exchange of like. When we presented BIOS in Vicenza, we asked people to finance the  Centro Stabile Di Cultura  with a small surcharge on the admission ticket, providing in exchange discounted copies of the cd: the what worked. Years later, the Centro Stabile has decided to finance our new musical and audio-visual project, by booking a concert that we will do in months.

This all seems beautiful to me. Why do some view this support mechanism negatively?

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Among the non-experts, behind certain positions there are often preconceptions about "musicians" and I certainly cannot blame them. It's a word that doesn't drive me crazy either: I use it very little. Certainly not for its noble meaning, but for the image that the cultural context has stuck on us: rich and crazy young people, without obligations and ready to claim their right to smash everything. Then add the prejudice that the "musician" must see him on TV or at least hear him on the radio, otherwise it is not clear what he does with his miserable life.

I confess that sometimes I use this stereotype wickedly against other categories: “So you are an architect? Never heard your name. And what stuff do you do, like Renzo Piano? ”.

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Behind the reasons for the dissent among the workers in the sector - apart from perhaps a case of previous chronic antipathy - I saw a lot of resistance to the news, especially on the part of the old guards. Crowdfunding does not like it because it is too modern, for babes who stay on their smartphones all day and do not go to concerts. And then choosing to ask for money through a video is considered by many to be a cross between Mondial Casa and Isis. The real musician plays with his head down and doesn't ask for anything. NEVER.

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Now we come to the interesting part: below are some of the statements that the bravest - which I thank - have written or said to me in person.

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"What, are you asking for money now?"

If you mean on a technical level, you are basically buying something that has yet to be produced. Ever bought a ticket before a concert? It doesn't seem that different to me.

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"It looks like a bit of blackmail"

We asked our audience a specific question: would you like to finance a record by  Eterea Post Bong Band  and also part of a mysterious short film? If it seems like blackmail, try replacing “Eterea” with your favorite band: you will see that it will sound better.

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"I only finance projects with a story"

FIG. A couple of years ago I too contributed on  Produzioni Dal Basso  to the restoration of a historic boat a_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb3b-136_bad5cf58d , obtaining in Venice I change a beautiful silkscreen print.

I recently found a flyer from Eterea's very first live: it was 1996 and we were undeniably shitting. But some adults told us that, among all the bands that shit, we stood out and made shit in an original way. I don't know if he just wanted to laugh at us, but since then we have always tried to improve and there are those who, perhaps wrongly, could say that we too have our little, insignificant history. From which perhaps derives the credibility that allowed us to exceed the goal of the campaign by 1k.

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"CDs are sold at live shows"

True. One sees you on stage, likes you and buys you CDs and vinyls. But you are in the industry and you know that after-concert sales are subject to a thousand variables: performance times, mood of the evening, location of the banquet, presence of other groups. In some areas of Italy, the culture of buying records at concerts is missing. And digital sales are what they are, if you don't have a top ten piece. Therefore I would not be so orthodox in respect of the old forms: we see what happens by experiencing new things.

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"This is too easy"

The day before the launch of the campaign, the risk of not convincing was almost palpable: a fiasco would have negative effects on mood and image, in addition to frustrating all the efforts made. Yes, because to design and implement a campaign, you know, it takes a lot of work by several people. I won't be boring you here with all the stages of production or the names of the wretches we involved, but we sure got our asses in stripes and now we're doing it in squares to make record and short film. All in the midst of other work commitments, children, removals and panda trafficking from China. But none of us complain. Aside from the funding itself, the campaign has served to force us to communicate as clearly as possible that sci-fi and layered skein that is Nordwalkers, as well as having undoubtedly given a boost to the project itself.

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"Once upon a time we did everything ourselves"

True. Before the internet, fundraising was virtually impossible for groups of our size. Above all for this reason “we did everything ourselves.” In my opinion there is absolutely nothing contrary to crowdfunding in the founding principles of DIY (Do It Yourself, for the layman).

Of course, doing everything by yourself is a unique learning experience, which I recommend to anyone (I fondly remember the endless piles of CDs to burn).

But guys, let's not become martyrs of DIY: if someone believes in you enough to finance the record (it happened to us well before crowdfunding), take advantage of it and channel all your energy into music, without distorting or commodifying it. Before Myspace, you had to send demos around, write to hundreds of clubs, make posters and even stick them around. At the time we didn't even have a local scene to lean on (strangely, the post bong in Schio didn't do much), so we invented the IndustriAlien: a collective of Veneto groups as losers as us, which basically served to make us feel less alone.

Then we collaborated with record labels that printed our records, in some cases dealing - to our great relief - also with booking and press office such as magica  Trovarobato . We also organized festivals in the province and abroad, meeting important personalities for our training.

More recently, we have begun to have records printed at our expense and resold them to the label, in order to have a greater economic margin and pay us the last installments of the van.

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It is a path that we share with many of you. And today we did crowdfunding. I certainly don't see a straight line in this hodgepodge, but I make sense of it.

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Let's close with the two best statements.

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"I self-produced my first record by raising grandmother's tips"

Ok, but more than DIY I would call it Tell Yours.

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"I give the money left over to me to African children, not to Eterea"

You do well, but look at those who grow up, come here and steal your job. Better to give everything to the junkies than your job SUCKS them.