SAN DIEGO (Feb. 20, 2015) – Digital donation platform, PIZICATO, launched today and is transforming the way fans can support their favorite musicians. This technology allows the fans to have a direct impact on how an artist is compensated, effectively plucking their own strings, disrupting the status quo and changing the model of the current music industry. From small town garage bands to superstars, it’s time for the fans to take back the power and revolutionize the way musicians are supported now and into the future. With PIZICATO, fans can pull the strings and ensure the artists they love have what they need to succeed.

“Being a lifelong music fan, I am very excited about how easy it has become to listen to my favorite music and discover new artists through online streaming sites. However, I am disappointed with how these changes have impacted the way artists are compensated,” explained Jeff Storm, longtime entrepreneur and co-founder of PIZICATO. “Music is such a personal, visceral experience and some of it resonates so deeply that I’d like to personally say thank you to the artists and share how they’ve impacted my life. We believe PIZICATO is a new way to make a difference.”

Inspired by a popular stringed instrument playing technique in which the artist plucks the string to sound the note rather than bow the string as one would traditionally, with PIZICATO, the fans hold the strings to the music industry. By directly compensating artists without the middleman, listeners have the power to disrupt the long tones of a broken industry in need of change. PIZICATO users are now able to directly support the performers they love at PIZICATO.com—allowing them to create the new industry model. Using Facebook’s application programming interface (API), PIZICATO connects the fan to the artists’ Facebook Page and allows the fan to donate directly to the artist, band, or musician they love via PayPal. These donations are all tax-free to the artist, and the artist receives 82% of the donations made. The rest goes back to PIZICATO.com to cover PayPal fees and operations by ensuring more donations come in to do even more good.

There has been a true paradigm shift in the way fans access music and the way artists are compensated. Based off the current industry model, musicians and bands are no longer receiving what they deserve. Today, artists have transitioned away from relying financially on record sales or song royalties as a viable source of income. Many artists are turning to other career paths to sustain themselves, leaving less time for them to create the music fans eagerly expect. PIZICATO believes it should be just as easy to support musicians, as it is to listen to music. PIZICATO has arrived to bridge this gap.

“It has never been a better time to be a music fan. Music streaming, video uploads, online music stores are available, but these advances also create a certain digital devaluation of the artists’ talent. Music needs to be more sustainable and we believe that PIZICATO is that solution,” said Jeano Erforth, Storm’s business partner, fellow successful entrepreneur and PIZICATO co-founder. “Through PIZICATO, artists can begin making ends meet again, collect enough donations to produce an entirely fan-funded album or even a full tour schedule. The PIZICATO revolution is the solution so that musicians can continue being musicians instead of taking day jobs. It’s the new way fans can directly influence and contribute to the music they love. PIZICATO is going to change everything.”

Get more information on the PIZICATO founders, details on signups and other important facts by visiting www.PIZICATO.com

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About PIZICATO
pizzicato 1 |ˌpitsəˈkädō|
adverb [ no obj. ]
(Often as a direction) plucking the strings of a violin or other stringed instrument with one’s finger: Violinists should play four 2-octave major scales; two should be played arco, two should be played pizzicato.

PIZICATO is a dynamic digital platform shaking up the way fans interact, support and connect with musical artists and performers. Created as an online donation platform, PIZICATO provides a solution for fans to support artists and their music directly, now and into the future. Through PIZICATO.com, fans are able to send electronic donations to the artist, allowing them to effectively hold the strings to change in the music industry. Join the PIZICATO revolution and make music happen.

The idea for a life-altering digital donation platform was dreamed up by entrepreneurs Jeff Storm and Jeano Erforth in December 2013, after realizing some of their favorite musical artists will never get adequately compensated for the music they have created. If the artists are unable to sustain themselves with the money they need to continue making music, it’s possible that these artists may have to take a day job instead of creating music for listeners. For Storm and Erforth, it was unacceptable that the music they love is more accessible than ever before, yet the artists are receiving exponentially smaller and smaller cuts for their work. In the end, it was all backwards and the entrepreneurial-minded, music-loving duo knew they had to create a solution to revolutionize this modern-day archetype of what the music industry had become. After further extensive research about the reality of royalties in the music industry, they learned just how far a dollar really goes for a musician and fourteen months later PIZICATO was born.

For more information on PIZICATO, please visit www.PIZICATO.com. Become a Facebook fan at Facebook.com/WeArePIZICATO, join our circle on Google+ or follow PIZICATO on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Spotify at @WeArePIZICATO.