So Megadeth is currently recording their new record, and they have already set up a pre-order. The band have launched a PledgeMusic crowd funding campaign, and that's totally fine. Either way the people who were going to pre-order the record were going to do it anyway, so why not use it to fund the record?
A quick look at the perks of pre-ordering and that's where things get a little… interesting. Oh, by "interesting" I mean completely egotistical.
- For $25 you can pre-order the physical CD of the record! A little pricey, but fine… or if you throw $50 at the group you get the signed CD. For literally the price of two CDs, you get one CD instead but the band wrote their names on it. Great!
- Same thing for vinyl. $40 unsigned, which is pricey, or $75 signed.
- For $500, you can get a lesson with new guitarist Kiko Loureiro. Then for $3,000, you can get one with Dave! Fine. Kiko isn't a big name and Dave is, but talk about having a little bit of an ego.
- For $5,000, you can sit down with Dave for two hours and write a song. Once.
I know the bottom line here is that this is going to have all the money thrown at it and Megadeth will exceed its goal easily. I just think some of the stuff on here is a little bit ridiculously priced for what it is. Charging $3,000 for a two-hour guitar lesson once from someone? I could get a year's worth of guitar lessons from someone of equal or greater talent for that price. Sure, it's a big name teaching you, but $3,000. Ultimately, nobody is forcing anybody to fork over that cash. If somebody really thinks it's worth it to get Dave Mustaine to write a song with them for $5k, good for them.