Community Band Funder · Label 51 Recordings
Pressing, distribution and community. For artists, by artists.
Community Band Funder (CBF) is how Label 51 gets independent records made. Your fans pre-order the vinyl, the cassettes and the CDs. If enough of them do, we press the run at our partner plant and ship it to you. No card is charged unless the campaign hits its goal, so when a project doesn't happen nobody has paid for anything. You don't sign to the label, you keep your masters, and the money from your physical sales is yours.
▹ $0 setup fee ▹ Flat 10% only if it funds ▹ Card processing at cost ▹ Cards are charged the day it funds, and never if it doesn't
About CBF
Community Band Funder is Label 51 Recordings' continued effort to support local artists. The platform gives artists the chance to be part of a label community, grow their audience, and have their fans pre-purchase their records, CDs and other merch. Once the artist's goal is reached, we press the products at our partner pressing plant. Cards are not charged until that happens, so if a project doesn't happen, nobody has paid for it.
"Music Made by Humans for Humans."
There is no contract to sign and no rights change hands. The music stays yours, and so does what it earns.
Out now on Label 51
These came off the same presses your record would. Same plant, same printers, same boxes.
Campaigns open soon. The pre-order platform is live and taking applications. Apply to run one of the first campaigns, or see what a campaign page looks like.
The fan pre-order model
It runs like Kickstarter: fans pre-order, and the record gets made if enough of them do. What they are buying is a record, not a share in your band, which is why a label can run it and an equity platform can't.
For artists
You don't design a page or hire anyone. You create your account first — that is where the application lives, so nothing is ever asked of you twice — and the campaign is six panels you fill in. The screen saves as you type and shows you what the numbers do while you work.
Writing takes an afternoon. Getting the quote and the artwork right takes longer, and that's the part worth taking time over. Create your account and the application is the first thing inside it.
Why backers trust it
PledgeMusic went under in 2019 owing fans and artists millions, because it spent the pledges before the records were made. On CBF there is nothing to spend: your card is saved, and it is only charged on the day a campaign reaches its goal.
Stripe holds the card, we never see the number, and no money moves before the campaign closes.
If the deadline passes short, the charge never happens. There's nothing to claim back and nobody to chase.
Label 51 is a working label with a real catalog. You're not trusting a stranger with a landing page.
A named plant, dates we'll stand behind, and an update every time the record moves.
The label's factory
Already have the money, or don't want to run a campaign at all? Order the pressing from Label 51 on its own. You get a fixed quote before you commit, with cassettes and CDs pressed in about two weeks and vinyl in about eight.
Sleeve and insert design, obi strips and specialty packaging are quoted on request, and merch-table quantities are fine. Anything outside the 250-unit vinyl run comes back as a fixed quote within 48 hours, with no obligation.
How we compare
What an artist in North America is really choosing between, and where a label-run platform sits in it.
| Platform | Model | Fee | Who owns the fans | Fulfillment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community Band Funder · Label 51 | Pre-order + label cover | 10% flat, charged only if it funds | You + the label | Label presses, you fulfill |
| Kickstarter (+ MAKE Vinyl) | Reward crowdfunding | ~8–10% | Platform keeps emails | You / Qrates partner |
| Qrates | Press-on-demand pledges | Built into unit cost | Marketplace | Qrates presses & ships |
| Bandcamp pressing | In-house crowdfunding | ~25% unit markup | You | Bandcamp presses |
| Wefunder / StartEngine | Equity (regulated) | ~7.5% + legal | Investors, not fans | N/A, sells shares |
The other platforms' figures are their own published ranges, put here so you can compare. Ask them for a quote, not us.
The label as your umbrella
You make the record. We give you what a label has and a band usually doesn't: a pressing plant that answers the phone, freight that arrives, and an audience to announce it to. What you do not get is a contract. Nothing is signed over, nothing has a term, and you can use us once and never come back.
Optional add-on
Want the release on streaming too? Add digital distribution through Label 51's Flatiron Music Distribution pipeline. Entirely optional, and never a condition of pressing.
The community piece
Campaign or straight run, every artist in the program joins the Label 51 indie community. We push your release and your shows the same way we push our own roster's, and you don't have to be signed for that.
Your release gets a placement on Label 51's indie artist page.
Your record announced across the label's social channels.
Share your live calendar and we push your dates out with the release.
Other artists in the program find your record, and their fans find you.
"Independent doesn't mean alone."
Frequently asked
No. Wefunder sells shares in companies, which is a regulated investment. Here you're pre-buying a record: vinyl, a cassette, a CD, merch, the same as on Kickstarter, Qrates or Bandcamp. Nobody owns a piece of the band at the end of it.
Nothing is charged. Your card is saved when you order and charged on the closing day, and only if the goal was met. If it wasn't, the charge never happens, so there's nothing to refund and nothing to wait for. That's deliberate: PledgeMusic collapsed because it had already spent money fans had handed over, and here there is no money to spend.
A flat 10% of what the campaign raises. No setup fee, nothing per unit, and nothing at all if it doesn't fund. Stripe's card processing (2.9% + $0.30 a pledge) is on top and we pass it through at what Stripe charges us. On a $10,000 campaign that's $1,000 to Label 51 and about $380 to Stripe, and you see both lines in your quote before you commit. Straight runs with no campaign use the per-unit price on the Pressing & Merch page instead.
Cassettes and CDs take about two weeks at the plant. Vinyl takes about eight. Shipping is on top of that in all three cases, and then you post them to your backers. From the day a vinyl campaign closes, plan on roughly three months before your fans are holding it; for cassettes and CDs it's closer to six weeks. The delivery month on your campaign page is worked out from those numbers, not from a guess.
A campaign runs for 45 days. Longer than that is signed off case by case. On Ground Up you put up the first $150 to seed your funding — that money is credited back to you and it doesn't count towards your admin fee. If you get close to your goal you can always top it off with your own funds, and we never charge our 10% on your own money coming in. If you already have the budget and don't want a campaign at all, that's a Straight Run: a fixed quote, 50% on order and 50% before shipping, with no fee on your sales.
No, and there's nothing to sign. You're paying us for a service. Your masters stay yours, the money from your physical sales stays yours, and our end of it is pressing the records and getting the run to you.
Vinyl in 7", 10" and 12", in standard black, color variants and picture disc, with 180g audiophile options. Sleeve and insert design support, obi strips and specialty packaging are available. Plus cassette (chrome or ferric) and CD (digipak or jewel case). Merch production opens soon. Merch-table quantities work too. All from the Pressing & Merch page.
Only if you want it to. Digital distribution is an optional add-on through Label 51's Flatiron Music Distribution pipeline: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Tidal and every major DSP, with ISRC codes and metadata handled. A 50/50 split applies to streaming income under that add-on, and to nothing else: your physical sales stay 100% yours, and so do your masters. Pressing never depends on taking it.
Tell us what you want to press. We'll quote it, help you build the page, and press it once your fans have paid for it.
