The legendary group, TLC, took it to Kickstarter to raise money for their fifth and final album. Just last Thursday, the campaign ended with the success of exceeding their original $150,000 goal just within three days, and nearly tripled the amount to $430,000 from the fans and fellow artists. This was a smart move for the veteran group, who’s been known to have money issues in their musical career, and do it on their own.

The bigger contributors included Katie Perry with a donation of $5,000 and tour mates New Kids On The block who gave $20,000. In all, the duo accumulated 4,201 backers to help support the project.

Last month, TLC spoke to their fans letting them know every dollar will go to their album and also mentioned on Kickstarter, “The more funds that we raise means more access to the best producers, writers and talent in the business!!!” Um..they’ll need a lot more than that to revive their career.

The producers willing to work on the album so far, are label executive Ron Fair, Dallas Austin who co-wrote various hits such as “Creep”, “Aint Too Proud To Beg”, and “Unpretty”, as well as Ne-Yo who will contribute to the album when his schedule allows it. Ne-Yo, that sounds a little sketchy *side eye*.

It wouldn’t be surprising if other artists, who have taken a backseat in music, will piggyback on the idea of fundraising for their albums as well. Congratulations to TLC for this brilliant marketing strategy, now let’s just hope the comeback will be a worthy one.

The two-month tour with TLC, New Kids On The Block and Nelly, is set to kick off on May 1.

Miss Tiff Starr

Writing since February 2015 · 2 stories contributed