Quick question: What are these investors hoping to get in return? Are they "investing" in the artist just so the artist can keep going?
Sorry if I'm talking in circles here...
In business, that's part of your pitch. Everyone is going to have different expectations.
I just went on Kickstarter and clicked on the first band project that I saw... it's good example too.
Freezepop Project
The band Freezepop from Somerville, MA setup a crowdfunding project. They actually tiered it, just like you would in a business.
They have a Base goal of $30k: with $30k they can record and release their new full-length album. They break out where the $30k goes to, and what percentage goes to each phase of recording.
If they can raise $40k, they will also release the album on vinyl.
$50k get bonus tracks plus a collaboration song
$60k gets more collaboration tracks and some remixes
So far, they've raised $47k!
They have an entire page that lists the busines prospectus, the same way a company would when selling stock, or a restaurateur would when pitching his restaurant idea to investors.
They have charts and graphs, release updates, they even have a risks and constraints section.
There are different levels at which you can invest, and the reutrn varies based on what you invest:
$5 gets you an MP3 download of one of their new songs
$10 get a digital-only copy of the album (in FLAC)
$20 gets a digital copy and a CD
$30 gets vinyl and a digital copy
$70 you get a band logo USB drive with all 159 tracks from their previous albums, plus a digital copy of the new album, plus a CD
it keeps going up with additional benefits. At $500 you get the album, digital copies, all their old song, some merch, and they will cover a song of your choosing.
This is the same with any business. If I want to open a coal mine, I go and pitch the idea to investors and give them different levels of investment that come with different (projected) levels of return.
I just picked this one at random, but take a look around, and I'm sure you'll see that most of these aren't 18 year olds looking for hand outs, they are businesses looking for investors.