I’ve been playing Toejam & Earl : Back In The Groove! on PS4 for the last few days. This is a sequel to one of my favorite video games, the original came out in the early 90s on the Sega Mega Drive and probably contributed to my love of funk music
They began crowdfunding for this long-awaited sequel a few years back and it finally came out. A couple of years ago, I received a poster, keychain and mug in the mail, but until the game finally came out last week, I’d completely forgotten that all backers got their name in the game credits! Scrolling through the credits and seeing myself in there was pretty awesome.
So I was wondering which other projects you’ve thrown your hard earned cash at and what did you get in reward?
I’ve pledged for an art book about Prince, a book on the collected works and history of the Sega Dreamcast (one of my favorite ever consoles - this book isn’t out yet but looks incredible), some weird pocket tripod for your phone which took ages to ship and I never actually used… it seemed cool at the time I guess, wasn’t a huge pledge
But the biggest pledge I made is for Shenmue 3, the sequel to literally my favorite video game series ever, which is finally coming out later this year. I believe my pledge level will come with an illustrated art book, a t-shirt, plus some in-game backer-only perks, and my name in the credits again.
Kano computers when they first became a thing. Got a T-shirt and stickers along with the Kano raspberry pi and keyboard. Eldest loved it when she was younger. Must dig it out again sometime
Just crowdfunded for a vegan meals company called Pollen + Grace on seeders
I crowdfunded an album for a band called Scars on 45. At the time all I got was their album signed and I loved it. As part of the fundraising I also got a few shares in their success, but to make any money back they had to sell 100,000 albums so I knew it was never going to be worth anything.
Fast forward 6 months and they got signed by Atlantic Records and the shares paid out nearly £7 a pop, they got sync deals all over the US and one of their songs Heart on Fire became and lead song on Grey’s Anatomy. They also got songs on One Tree Hill, CSI NY, Pretty Little Liars, Supernatural etc.
So I got a cool CD, a nice chunk of cash but I really do feel like we gave these guys a chance at a career and they took it!
I don’t think we have time to hear my small funny pledges in companies
Recently I pledged for some payment earnings. I have no clue if it will actually happen but to see me putting my ear to a terminal is something I need to do.
It used to be Slicethepie.com, essentially people blind rated bands and gave their honest opinion afterwards and a rating out of ten. Every month the highest rated band was put up for Crowdfunding and people got to invest. Some great indie bands got funded and went on to make some really good albums, but unfortunately, only Scars ever made it big. Thus they started to run out of money.
To fix this, they basically got rid of the Crowdfunding aspect and just worked on improving their review engine. They managed to attract nearly all of the major labels (or at least they used to last time I was involved), blind feeding the latest or due out soon tracks through the engine, via a feeder site (Soundout). Essentially to find out what is radio quality and what isn’t!
You get paid to review stuff now, it’s not much but it’s a bit of pocket money.
I made a pledge for Shenmue 3 too! I had been waiting for 15 odd years for signs of the final chapter so when the crowdfunding was announced I had to participate!
Only crowdfunding bar Monzo I have participated in.
My Kickstarter is pretty varied I must admit! But here goes…
Ghost Blogging Platform - I still use them today for my website.
Ginkgo Solar Tree - A solar powered power-pack, which you then use to charge your phone over night.
Three Card Monte - A card game, which I still haven’t taught myself or played… ooops!
Quickdraw Cables - The best iPhone cables I have found.
Under The Surface: Somerset Floods 2014 - A piece of history for me, when the somerset levels flooded in 2014 a local photographer went out and captured some great photos. Great to look back on.
Earin: The Worlds Smallest Wireless Earbuds - Shame they didn’t quite live up to the hype, the sound kept dropping so they are in a drawer somewhere.
bolstr - Perfectly Sized EDC Cary - A nice bag for everything a man needs to carry ever day.
Rhinoshield Crashguard: An iPhone Bumper - I used it for a while then got something a bit more heavy duty.
TiBinar: Titanium Carabiner - In my bolstr bag for keys, obvs.
Shenmue 3 - All I know I’m getting is the PS4 game but I may have pledged for more, I can’t remember.
Hardcore Underground: Blu The Roof - Still not shipped, even though it was due in 2015. As far as we’re aware they are still working on it. We’ll see…
Hexlox - Inserts for allen key bolts in bigs to stop theft, really clever and my bike is covered in them.
Bobby Backpack - The original anti-theft bag, lots of copies out there.
Are We There Yet? - Another book of photos, this time from the Banksy exhibition in Weston Super Mare.
Ding: Smart Doorbell - Pretty nice, didn’t want a video doorbell so this was what we went for.
Mova Cycling Jacket - A reversible cycling jacket, hi-vis on one side when riding, black on the other when not.
bolstr 2.0 - The EDC bag beefed up, now my old bag has gone to heaven and this is what I use.
Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game - Loved the game on PS4, looking forward to playing it on a table top.
