In these times, when it is increasingly difficult to finance, there is a new figure known as 'crowdfunding'. It could be explained as a way of 'patronage', so if we are carried away by appearences, maybe we would be wrong because the idea is not absolutely new.
Here, in Spain, a pioneer in 'crowdfunding' was a famous rock band called Extremoduro. To record its first album, they asked their fans and some other friends for a contribution of 1000 pesetas (nowadays, 1 euro is equivalent to 166,386 pesetas). In return, when the group got all the money they needed to record the album and finish their project, they gave each of those people one album with the names of all the backers on its back cover. It was aproximately in 1989. Roberto Iniesta, the lead singer, said that when they finally could record the album and begin delivering them to their backers, there were many people that did not remember they had made such a contribution. 'I just gave you the money so that you did not disturb me never again', one of the backers said.
Today, especially in recent years, due to lack of funding, many projects of musicians, writers,... even charity proyects are financed in this way. They use an Internet platform and expose their projects trying to get public attention and support. In the U.S., the reference platform is www.kickstarter.com. In Spain, there are platforms like www.lanzanos.com or www.verkami.com. The idea is that a person or group of peolpe that need financing expose their project on this platform, explaining what they want to do and how much money they need to do it. It begins a period for its backers to make their contributions in exchange for 'rewards' via the Internet. The platform would take a fee as payment for services provided and the 'creator' would be the owner of its work.
To explain what I mean with 'rewards', take an example. Imagine a band that wants to lanch an album. The band, would share its project on the platform and could set these 'rewards': 5 Euros would give you the right to download the digital album; with a contribution of 10 EUROS, you would receive the disk by post and you could download the digital album; a contribution af 15 EUROS would give you the right to download the digital album, you would receive the disk by post and a T-shirt too. And, so on, up to a maximun contribution would enable you to even enjoy the group in a private and exclusive concert. Also, if the project do not get the money within the period it will not be effective.
Globally, 'Pebble Project' is maybe the most striking. This is a watch compatible with Android and Apple technology. It is a product that meets all the requirements for success: innovative, many different uses,... At first, its creators had set a goal to raise 100,000 USD and the result was an unprecedented success. Its final collection was more than 10 million USD. It is expected that the first 85,000 units of the product will be sent to their owners soon, so the project is not completely done, but it seems that success is assured.
So, we might ask: Where is the trick?. Well, go to the reference website www.kickstarter.com and read. I think that the most surprising is the platform wash its hands of meeting the commitment of the project, i.e., it is the backer who has to ensure that the project is reliable. The platform only makes recommendations and suggestions to avoid becoming victims of a possible scam or fraud (by consultating websites, searching information on the Internet, …) but always atressing that they are intermediaries. On the other hand, www.kickstarter.com, compels creators to sign a commitment for covering their backers, providing a tool in case they need a claim through the courts but, probably, without real guarantees that this can be really helpful.
However, it seems that in recent months they have been working to improve these problems, asking for more information to the creators about their projects. Therefore, I think it is a double-edged sword because if it is used correctly, you have a powerful financial instrument but, perhaps, it is so new on the Internet that it is still needs some modifications. For example, has anybody stopped to think how easy could be plagiarize any idea of a project that has not been done? Or what about all these projects that, at first, did not reach success but as time went by were hits?. Is this really a “natural selection” of successful projects?. Will stakeholders involved in probing the market to meet consumer preferences?.
Above and beyond that, nowadays, I think that the funding is welcome, regardless of all this, and 'crowdfunding' may be the economic salvation of many projects that, otherwise, could not be performed.
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