TLC’s Chilli and T-Boz has announced on ABC’s Good Morning America, that they are looking to their fans to help them raise $150,000 to help them launch their final album.
“We’ve always been known to do things differently,” said Tionne Watkins aka T-Boz to the Daily News. “We’ve always been trailblazers and trendsetters. We’ve always been outspoken, and this seems like the perfect opportunity.”
Never fully recovering from the death of their group mate, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in 2002, the group hasn’t released an album in almost 13 years which was seven months after Left Eye’s death. Even though they have won Grammy awards and sold over 10 million units the group has had financial problems throughout their careers and even filed for bankruptcy, rumored to be because of their manipulative manager, Perri “Pebbles” Reid.
“People may say, ‘Hey, you are celebrities. Why can’t you just pay for it yourself?'” Chilli said also to the Daily News. “But it doesn’t work that way. There’s a lot that goes into it. We want to bring our fans into the process and see how it’s done. We could knock out two birds with one stone, we can have them involved in our album. Then also, we can have control over everything. That’s a perfect combination.”
Donations start at only $5 and depending on how much you donate you can also receive rewards such TLC personally calling you or recording your voicemails, receiving a scrapbook or video dance tutorial, or even spending time with each artist at the movies, amongst other things. According to the website the proceeds will go towards making the album happen which includes studio time, writing sessions and as well as booking the producer and engineer.
It seems to be off to a good start, the campaign was launched on Monday and they have already raised over $60,000. Let’s chat below what do you think about this new way of raising money?
SOURCES SITED: BILLBOARD.COM, DAILYNEWS.COM, THEJASMINEBRAND.COM
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