Due to popular demand...

Assessing the size and demographics of a potential market for a product is a marketeer's nightmare, and failure to do this correctly has been the downfall of many excellent projects. But thanks to the internet there's a new way of working out the size (and pocket depth) of your potential customers BEFORE engaging in the costly process of designing, creating and distributing your product. (or write/record/distribute if you prefer).

The website PledgeBank was launched in 2008 with the slogan "I'll do it, but only if you help". It worked like this: a user created a pledge such as "I'll donate $100 to (insert charity) if 100 other people do the same"; people sign up to the pledge; then when the required number of people sign up, this triggers each pledger to do the thing in the original pledge.

In 2009, a group of musicians and A&R men set up PledgeMusic, a business that applies the same idea to the business of creating and selling an album; the artist pitches the idea to their fans, then fans hand over their credit card details on the understanding that they will be charged when the target is met. The artist records and releases the material, distributes it to their pledgers, then places the album on the wider market. The fans essentially function as the record label, leaving the artist to select their own studio, producer, artwork and whatever else.

Fans wishing to pay more than simply the cover price for the album can be offered a wide range of value-added services: signed CDs, limited edition vinyl and even helicopter rides with the band. Artists as notable as Daniel Bedingfield, Hugh Cornwell, Ben Folds Five and The Libertines have run successful projects on the site and this list of artists grows every week.

The key to the success of PledgeMusic is however the solid industry backing behind it and the team of seasoned music industry veterans that provide help each step of the way to those electing to use the platform. Other crowd-funding services are available, in the same industry and in other sectors such as scientific research, movie-making and healthcare but it's not difficult to see that the level of engagement and interest generated by such an activity is perfect for the music industry.