The Glitch Mob’s ever-increasing exposure has opened new avenues for promoting positive change outside of the realm of music, and its members have embraced these opportunities wholeheartedly, donating all proceeds from their two-volume remix album to relief organizations in Haiti, raffling off back-stage passes to their Chicago show in exchange for donations in service of Japanese residents displaced by the recent earthquake and tsunami, and volunteering at the APCH after school program teaching music in South Central LA.

We caught up with the trio via email during their ongoing US tour to find out more about their efforts to use music to improve the world around them- read on to find out what they’ve been up to, and to cull a few tips on how artists at all levels can do the same.

BB: As a group, what got you started on the path to charitable giving through music and performance?

The Glitch Mob: We have always been firm believers in the power of music to carry a message. It has the ability to travel right from a speaker directly into the soul. The power is clear.

With that said, philanthropy has not always been a part of what we do. The issues were on our mind and we had been looking for an effective way to get involved. A serendipitous meeting with our now good friend Brandon who works at Causecast really set everything in motion. Download to Donate is a company that he works with that is creating infrastructure for artists to easily donate music to a cause. We also want it to be easy for our fans to get the music while raising awareness, so this was a great match.

Prior to your recent show in Chicago, you raffled off a few ticket bundles to fans that sent you a receipt proving that they’d donated to Japanese relief efforts. How was the response? Do you think giveaways like this are an effective approach to raising money for charity compared to more “traditional” approaches (e.g. portions of album sale income, exclusive track sales, etc)?

It worked pretty well, but I wouldn’t say it was a smashing success. Something turns off in people when they see the word “donate.” Which is part of the problem. But all the more reason for us to keep trying out new things. It’s usually pretty easy for acts to scrape together some extra guest list slots — and why not use them to create some awareness and donations?

Which organizations have you found most useful in helping you execute your fund raising goals? You mentioned Causecast and Download to Donate, for example.

The goal of Download to Donate is to set up a system where artists can easily donate music. Fans then subscribe and get access to all of the music on the site. It’s a powerfully simple idea. They are doing a great job at making a portal where there’s lots of good music constantly coming in.

We released an entire two-volume remix album with them and the experience was great. The music got out into the world and we raised some money for Haiti.

For lesser-known artists trying to use their work to support a cause, trust can be a major stumbling block: if people are uncertain about whether you’ll do what you say you will (e.g. donate album sale proceeds to charity) they’re much less likely to participate. The issue is probably less severe for better-known artists like yourselves, but name recognition aside, have you had to take any particular steps to earn your fans’ trust when it comes to making donations?

Charity can be a very personal thing.  We do a lot of research which charities to support, but we are not experts. We do our best to find reliable sources. If people don’t trust the sources that we come up with, that’s fine. The bigger picture is that people are paying attention to what’s going on right now and getting involved.

Given your experiences thus far, do you have any other thoughts or advice for artists interested in using their work to support charitable causes?

Check out Download to Donate. If you feel strongly about an issue — don’t be afraid to speak up and get involved. The world needs you right now.

• The Glitch Mob

• Causecast
• Download to Donate

Now touring the United States in support of his eponymous album, Brendan stopped through his (and BenevolentBeats) home-base of San Francisco early this month with a unique announcement: most of the proceeds from ticket sales to his show would be donated to the local charity Precita Eyes, an organization dedicated to supporting and maintaining mural arts in the City by the Bay. Given that many consider ticket sales for live performances one of the last bastions of real income for musicians in the age of the “free” MP3, we were struck by this wonderful and selfless gesture, and got in touch with Brendan to learn more about his decision to make charitable giving a part of the experience of his art. He was gracious enough to share a few of his thoughts with us, and we’re extremely pleased to share them with you.

BB: You describe on your blog how you first became aware of Precita Eyes- can you tell us a little bit about your decision to support them? What inspired you to use performance proceeds vs. something more traditional like a fixed-amount donation?

Brendan: When I first moved out to San Francisco 5 years ago, I lived with someone who was working there for school. She has stayed with Precita since and become their communications director. While we were living together, she showed me what they did for the community and how the murals have a direct and lasting impact on the people. I was inspired to do the performance based proceeds because of some work I have seen Imogen Heap do. She developed a fantastic segment of some of her shows where she donates to local charities along the stops of her tour. The idea of giving locally in exchange for an experience really makes sense to me.

While you’re a fairly established artist, you’re also demonstrating that it doesn’t take arena-filling financial clout to help support a cause you believe in.  How are you balancing the need to make a living with your desire to make a difference outside the music world?

It all goes hand in hand I think. One inspires the other and gives back. I’ve always come from that place in terms of why I write music, but only recently realized that I should reach out and have a direct connection to local groups in various areas.

Clearly Precita Eyes will benefit from both your donation and the attention you’ve brought to their cause.  Have you noticed any reciprocal benefits from your partnership with them, e.g. increased publicity for the show?  It seems like there’s great potential for mutual promotion in this kind of artist / charity partnership, but I’m interested in how that plays out in practice.

It’s tough to say how much attention that side of the show brought in to be honest. It would be great if there was a way to gauge that. I think as we do this more and more, it will be more easily analyzed. I think you are right, especially given the state of our technologically connected world, and ever increasing scenarios to help. Just seems to make sense.

Are there alternatives to financial support that you think might also be valuable to charitable organizations?

Oh absolutely, but I imagine it depends on the specific charity or group that you are helping. Different ones have different needs and various roles they play in the community. I think a small range of being able to adapt to each scenario could work best.

Given your experience with this endeavor, do you have any thoughts or advice for other artists interested in using their work to support a cause?

Start doing it, right away. Even if it’s just to help promote the charity. No money needs to come out of anyone’s pockets if you can’t do that yet. Talk to your friends and see what’s possible. People in general seem very down to do as much as they can when it comes to helping out their city / town etc…

Many thanks to Brendan for taking the time to answer our questions! Check out his music, bio, and upcoming tour schedule at his artist site.

• Eskmo (Offical Website)
• Welder (Official Website)
• Precita Eyes

• Eskamon
• Amon Tobin
• Ninja Tune Records
• Warp Records
• Planet Mu Records

I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone that took a few minutes out of their day to help us with this first project. In this day and age it’s almost impossible to avoid being deluged with a seemingly endless barrage of offers and requests, and it means the world to all of us working on this campaign that you were willing to give us a chance. Extra-special turbo thanks to those of you that helped us spread the word online- you’re the best.

We’ve got plenty more in store for you in the days and weeks to come, so stay tuned! An Amazon promotion might have been the first you heard of us, but it certainly won’t be the last.

We’ve created a small but growing coalition of independent musicians that have pledged to donate their income from Amazon.com promotional MP3 store sales to charity.  If you’ll use the $2 that Amazon is giving you to buy a track or two from from any of these artists, 100% of the artist’s income from your purchase will be donated to Project Open Hand, a great organization that feeds thousands of people in the Bay Area.

Here’s how to make it happen:

Click here and enter coupon code VDAYMP3S.  USD $2 will be instantly credited to your Amazon account.

Purchase two tracks ($1.98 total) from any of our participating artists:
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Project Open Hand profits!

Read on for a breakdown of how much of that $2 will actually make it to our charity.

Music is sold on the Amazon MP3 store for $0.99 per track.  Amazon takes a cut of ~$0.29 per track sold, passing the remaining $0.70 to the track’s distributor, who (potentially) takes their own cut before passing things down the line, finally ending up at the artist.  Some distributors (e.g. TuneCore) don’t take a cut at all- their fees have all been paid up-front by the artist.  Other distributors (e.g. CD Baby) take in the neighborhood of 9% from Amazon’s payout, meaning that all told, Project Open Hand will get $0.63 – $0.70 per track sold.  Not bad for a minute or two of work.

Of course, one of the biggest difficulties in getting an idea like this off the ground is the issue of trust.  While taking part in this endeavor won’t cost you anything (we’re taking advantage of Amazon’s generosity here), there is no way for participants to ensure that the artist they purchase from won’t just run off to Tijuana with the proceeds they generate.  The best we can do is assure you that the independent artists that have volunteered to participate in this endeavor want only to see a few corporate dollars go toward improving real people’s lives.

There’s also the question of motivation.  Will these artists receive additional publicity if our plan takes off?  Almost certainly.  Does this make the entire effort some sort of crafty PR stunt?  Absolutely not.  Our participating artists definitely stand to benefit (though not monetarily), and to what degree this possibility played into their decision to join us we’ll never know.  What IS certain is that without them, there would be no way to change free Amazon bucks into useful Actual bucks.  In the end it’s a win / win situation, and that’s tough to beat.

If you’re convinced, please help us spread the word!  We have less than a week to muster all the support we can to feed as many of our friends and neighbors as possible.  We’ll report back on the results of the campaign as soon as possible after the promotion wraps up, though it could be up to a couple of months before Amazon reports February earnings to our artists.