Taylor Swift Fans Unite to Support Delta Rae After Band Leaves Big Machine
Something positive is coming from all the controversy surrounding Big Machine Label Group, Scooter Braun and Taylor Swift. On Monday (July 1), country/folk pop sextet Delta Rae announced they left their label, Big Machine, to once again pursue music independently, and legions of Taylor Swift fans pledged their support.
Delta Rae shared the brief message in a tweet accompanied by a link to a Kickstarter campaign to independently fund their next album The Light. The tweet amassed more than 1,500 retweets and 5,000 favorites in the first few hours alone, also inspiring a barrage of comments from "Swifties" promising to stand behind them.
And they meant it:
Delta Rae set a budget goal of $30,000 to record The Light. Within the first twelve hours of the campaign, they raised nearly $100,000. As of this writing, and just over 24 full hours of campaign launch, Delta Rae has raised nearly $150,000 from more than 1,000 people. And the campaign still has 59 days left.
In the band's Kickstarter campaign, they share that they plan to release two albums titled The Light (in Spring 2020) and The Dark (in 2021) and that if they reached $60,000 they'd record both of them. For comparison, the last time Delta Rae used Kickstarter to raise money for an album, they received $28,000 from 293 backers. They eventually signed to an imprint of Warner Music, followed by signing with Big Machine Label Group in 2017.
"For the past seven years we have been signed to record labels that have helped fund our albums, music videos, photography, and artwork," Delta Rae write. "But as of last month, that has changed. We are incredibly excited to announce that we are independent once again."
The band also plans to tour extensively around the releases, "Crafting live experiences beyond just music, to bring these worlds to life for you." With funding likely to continue to grow over the next several weeks, Delta Rae could (and should) be one of the best turnaround stories in country music this year.
Many Swifties are also sharing the band's music, asking for the best way to get acquainted with them and encouraging others to listen to them. This tweet represents a message sent by dozens of Swift fans in the comments section of Delta Rae's Kickstarter announcement tweet:
Delta Rae likely knew they were departing Big Machine well before the controversy around the label's sale took place, but it's a strong statement from the band no less, and a victory for independent musicians.
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