Last week I promised some interesting news about Archive, the collective Dave Pen (Birdpen) joined in 2004 as an emergency tour replacement for an errant singer.

Archive have eight albums under their belt and a very strong following in Europe.

Their most recent double album ‘Controlling Crowds’ fulfilled their contract with Warners and instead of re-signing with a major label chose to go it alone.

To look after the global distribution of their back catalogue AWAL (Artists Without a Label) have been given that task.

However, to raise funds for future projects, they’ve turned to an exciting musician led company called PledgeMusic.com.

The pledge system involves fans buying the CD or DVD in advance through incentives, such as signed merchandise, being the band photographer for the day, or just having a signed set list.

On 19th July Archive asked their fans to help raise funds to record a live DVD at a 5000 seat amphitheatre in Athens: ten days later they’ve achieved their target!

“The response has been over whelming,” Dave Pen told me, “I personally didn’t think it would go so quickly so am very happy it has done.”

Numbers of fans is the important part of this equation.

When you consider Archive have over 60,000 ardent followers on Facebook you can appreciate that raising money this way is blindingly obvious.

So pledging might not suit bands at the start of their career but it’s a massive incentive for looking after your fan base and encouraging its growth.

First published in the Southern Daily Echo on 30th July 2010