Has anyone ever invested into a project on Indiegogo, Gofundme or Kickstarter? Was it for a film, video game, musician or any other creative project? I haven’t ever donated any money to a crowdfunding website but it is something I’ve definitely thought about. My first exposure to crowdfunding was through multiple band pages on Facebook. I’m a huge fan of hardcore music and while it isn’t the most popular genre of music, it does have a highly devoted community surrounding it. Most of the hardcore bands I listen to are not rich or necessary fulfilling the definition of what many would consider “success”. These bands have to be touring for 300 out of the 365 days a year to remain relevant in a music scene that changes it’s preferences on an almost annually basis. Unfortunately as these bands remain on the road to keep playing shows and not really being paid a whole lot of money, a lot of these bands come into financial difficulty and turn to crowdfunding websites for help.
The most common two reasons why DIY or independent hardcore bands (or any band from any genre of music) turns to crowdfunding is because 1) they need to cover the cost of repairs for their touring van because vehicles sometimes crap out after driving them across North America or 2) the band has been robbed (band’s touring vans and busses are notorious for being broken into because of the value of music equipment and the members personal belongings). These are certain cases of desperation but rarely is crowdfunding used for much else within the hardcore music community. Bands will be willing to give away t-shirts or their music at a reduced cost just so they can continue touring because that’s the most important aspect of being a musician in the eyes of most of these starving artists.
The first time I really encountered crowdfunding with the purpose of funding a project that has yet to even be started was for the Canadian band Protest the Hero and their fourth record “Volition”. Protest the Hero are perhaps one of the most well-known and innovative Canadian metal bands and after their third record “Scurrilous” the band decided to leave their record label and do their fourth record completely by themselves. The band started an Indiegogo page with an initial goal of $125,000 which would cover all the costs from the writing of the record all the way to the actual release of the record over a year later. The band was able to successfully to do more than double their goal and ended with a final total of $341,146 (which is USD and their Canadian so they probably made some decent money in the exchange). The band offered all kinds of perks such as digital download of the album when it’s released, a CD, a vinyl record, t-shirts, sweaters, a signed guitar, a pizza party and so much more. Heck, if you had the money you could have even spent $5000 to be heard on the album. While most people typically donated between $10-$50 dollars, there were options that appealed to die hard PTH fans who could buy a $100 membership that grants them access to all kinds of free stuff at any PTH concert. A small metal band of five dudes from Whitby, Ontario were able to create a record all by themselves without a record label that would eventually go on to win the 2014 Juno Award for Best Metal Album of the Year.
Protest the Hero has continued this method of DIY recording and have decided to release their music exclusively through a subscription that only costs $12 a year but you get a brand new song from the band every single month. THAT’S A DOLLAR A SONG! This subscription helps the band to constantly be delivering new music instead of asking for a onetime lump sum to cover the expensive cost of writing, recording, mixing and mastering an album. Instead, with very small once a year cost, Protest the Hero are able to produce new music every month and their fans can expect something from them without forgetting about them and allowing the band to fade away into obscurity.
Although this post was mainly about music, there’s a few films that I know of that have been funded by crowdfunding or are in the process of doing so. Recently, the comedy team Broken Lizard was able to raise $4 million to produce the sequel to the 2001 cult comedy Super Troopers. The comedy team absolutely smashed their initial goal of $2 million and doubled it, allowing for them to make the ridiculous film they want while also possibly getting some studio financing after it became clear that people want to see Super Troopers 2. Another film that I sort of followed along with through this process was the 2014 film Blue Ruin which is so good I’m actually baffled that a studio never picked the film up for production.
Although I was skeptical of crowdfunding at first and sort of wrote it off as lazy, I know see it as a very creative and interactive way for artists from all mediums to directly speak to their fans or peers and ask for help while giving updates along the way. It will be interesting to see how crowdfunding evolves as now there’s filmmakers such as Spike Lee or Alejandro Jodorowsky using these platforms as a starting point for films that studios don’t want to fund (I don’t blame the studios for not wanting to back another crappy Spike Lee Joint).
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I agree with all of this. Before I learned about crowdfunding in Business of Film class, I was judgmental on the purpose of it. I wondered about what the purpose was and where that money was actually going toward. However, I can see that crowdfunding is an excellent way of getting certain projects off the ground that wouldn’t be able to otherwise without help. Music is not an area that I am as familiar with, or invested in, but films and video games, I think, follow the same idea as you mention. It really gives independent creators a chance to do something with their ideas, and if they do not have the means of getting funding in their close connections, branching out to the online community is another way of doing it.
Also, what is interesting is how each crowdfunding site works. Indiegogo takes more off of the funds raised, for example, but it also will give back all the money to the contributors if the goal isn’t reached. Kickstarter, on the other hand, allows for the creators of the project to keep whatever money is raised, regardless of if they hit their goal or not.
Call it a “conspiracy-anxious” thought, but thinking through some of the repercussions of the Kickstarter websites on a grand scale, I naturally think: Well, only those with more money will have a say at what gets made and what doesn’t. (We are the 99%, social class reinforcement and all that).
And it’s true to some degree. Like Jessica said, in business of film we’ve seen the way some people donate. Some of them actually make thousands of donations as a hobby, and they even forget to go back and see how each thing being funded is developing.
But, like you said, you can get rewards from donating, creating the type of feedback which encourages people to spend their money.
I think, along with the sure-fire things like netflix and video service programs, and things like spotify, these new formats have a future and will develop in different ways. I’m just wondering how a fundraising application will cater to the common man!