Katie Thompson

Katie Thompson

New Zealand Singer/Songwriter

The South Island songbird has done it – Katie Thompson is about to hit the studio to record a professional album – and it won’t cost her a cent.

Katie is now the second Kiwi music artist to achieve a fully-funded album via Sellaband – the international, online music community that allows people to invest in funding albums for up-and-coming musicians.

Music fans from around the world invested in Katie’s online album fund, with New Zealanders investing NZ$38,000.

Katie’s rise on Sellaband started this year during NZ Music Month May when she won RaboIdol, a competition run by RaboPlus. The bank invested NZ$10,000 prize money into her online album fund, which then skyrocketed to US$50,000 in less than three months.

“It showed me how one event can spark off something much bigger, like a ripple effect. It was ‘opportunity meets preparation’ where I was in the right place at the right time, and then worked really hard to make it happen,” says the determined 22-year-old.

Katie describes her music as ‘Kiwi’ roots, pop and country, inspired by local music heroines Anika Moa, Mel Parsons and Anna Coddington.

With her focus now firmly on planning, contracts and studio deliberations, Katie is on track to release her album in time for NZ Music Month 2010.