PonoPlayer in Top Ten Most Funded on Kickstarter.
The Pono digital music player, created by rock star Neil Young and an experienced team of professionals, has crushed their crowdfunding goal of raising $800,000. If you blinked you missed it, as they hit that target almost immediately. The campaign that was launched only this past Tuesday (March 11, 2014) is now at $3.5 million – with 31 days to go. Pono is already in the top ten most funded crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter. Ever. They stand at number 7 today as they close in on such megahits like Veronica Mars, Pebble Smartwatch and Ouya.
The Pono music player was designed for audiophiles. Those of us who want the audio clarity of a music experience that matches the original recording as closely as possible. The ubiquitous iPhone / iPods are good but the Pono wants to be the best. Apparently there is a significant market that agrees as over 10,000 supporters have backed this project in less than a single week.
In a backer update the Pono team thanked their supporters stating;
We are absolutely thrilled and overwhelmed by the amount of LOVE we have received from AROUND THE WORLD in just the past 24 hours. It’s incredible. Your donations show that PonoMusic should exist… You have officially joined our movementto keep the heart of music beating.
On our end, we are continuing to spread the PonoMusic word. We were at SXSW yesterday unveiling the product and are continuing to spread the word today in Austin. If you could not make it to Neil’s talk at SXSW, you can listen to it here on NPR. We also included a photo below of (most of) the team–can you tell how happy we all are to be here?!
Some other announcements:
Please know that we are working very hard to answer your each of your questions personally, as quickly as we can. (A note: if you scroll down to the bottom of the campaign page, there is a huge FAQ section too!)
We also added two more offerings to the Artist Signature Series–James Taylor and My Morning Jacket! More to come so stay involved and stay tuned…
Thanks again… We feel so blessed.
Stay righteous,
the PonoMusic Team
For $300 backers may receive a PonoPlayer with an estimated shipping date of October 2014. If you are feeling a bit more generous, and want to pony up $5000, you can join Neil Young for dinner in New York City and share his joy in the success of his device. The team actually had to add MORE top end rewards (of $5000 each) to meet demand. That’s incredible.
So can PonoMusic take on the heavyweight crowdfunding champions like Veronica Mars or the Pebble Watch?
My money is with Neil.
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Update:
Neil Young has sent out an email to all of the supporters of his PonoMusic player. It is reproduced below:
Thanks everyone for all of your support. It has been and continues to be gratifying to me to see how many of you are supporting Pono and our revolution in the way people can listen. Now we will have a choice that is as convenient as it is great sounding. We are celebrating our Freedom of Choice.
I especially want to thank Elliot Roberts for his tireless efforts to bring you the great signature artists we are offering with their special limited edition players. More signature artists seem to sign up every day! These artists love you to actually hear their creations exactly the way they were made. They, like myself, have been waiting a long time for Pono.
My talent at signing posters is getting a great workout. I’m happy to report that most of my signatures are legible. Ha Ha. I don’t think there will be any more posters offered though!
I just wanted to say thanks on behalf of everyone involved in PonoMusic.
We could not have done this without you.
Neil Young
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