The Dark Side of Kickstarter

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Perhaps I'm a bit slow on the uptake, but I just recently stumbled across Kickstarter. My first reaction was that this is a fabulous site, making aspiring artist's dreams come true by getting lots of people to contribute money. I have all these stories I've always wanted to get illustrated, but don't have the money to hire a professional artist. But then I began researching the site. It would seem that they collect a 10% fee for all the money you get (if you meet your goal). It also seems that they don't do any follow up on the projects posted. I've read a lot of comments "I contributed money to X project and never got the promised T-shirt, signed print, copy of the work, etc." Also there are people who contribute, and then demand their money back as a scam.

Has anyone here had any experience with Kickstarter? Good or bad, posting a project, or contributing?

(One thing that continues to baffle me are the projects that get 2,000 times their goal, or more.)

I've wondered about going the kickstarter route myself, but I'm not sure I quite have the work ethic for it just yet. I'm planning an album release, and I've heard of a lot of indie recording artists doing some really impressive stuff with KS. What I think will work better for me is go through with my planned album release with a very limited local audience, do a promo "tour" within, say, a 100 mile radius, and build a modest following on Facebook, mostly people I've personally met along the way. Meanwhile, work up a TON of material for a more substantial album release, get 10 or 20 of these people together as a focus group, and plan out what material I really SHOULD release. I can do all that for free. THEN announce an upcoming album release together with a KS project, and see if someone up in Nashville has a floor I can sleep on. Once I get there I can hire the String Machine and it's on like Donkey Kong. But I won't do it unless I've got a dedicated fan base and can expect a massive return on the investment.

The thing is, KS is like going into debt…just to a LOT of people instead of just a bank. I want to do good work, I can certainly use the money resources, but at the end of the day I have to ask one question: Am I comfortable mortgaging my house to play the stock market? No? Then I'm certainly not going to borrow money to support a project that doesn't even exist. Someone like me can kill a music career real fast that way, and those are risks I'm just not prepared to take. There's no point to pissing off that many people.

I have to admit I feel much the same way, AngelRho. I would feel very responsible for the project to be the best I could make, and that it stayed on schedule.

If the stories I've read are to be believed, some people have posted projects, taken the money and skipped out.

There are a few reasons I'd want to utilize KS.

1. Promote my book and get copies in all the brick and mortar stores in the Seattle area.

2. Film one of my book's short stories or novellas and create either a short film or full length feature.