Don’t get me wrong, Kickstarter is a great thing, but, these days, it seems to be the easy solution, and artists are overusing it and abusing it… Since Amanda Palmer’s mega success, many bands have jumped on the bandwagon, saying ‘why not us?’ and giving it a try. But is that always justified?
I understand independent artists trying to raise money to record an album, but what about others who use Kickstarter for funding a tour? Is this legitimate? Take this rock band Eisley from Texas, they have been on different labels (currently Equal Vision Records), have released 4 LPs, and they have recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance their upcoming tour. They posted this to explain the situation:
‘But, this is going to be more difficult than ever, since we not only have to support ourselves on these tours, but we have four beautiful new mouths to feed, safely transport, and care for. This means we no longer have the luxury of being able to suck it up, hop in a 15-passenger van and have a care-free, fun time with you all on the road. Our future, which we want to spend with you, requires the use of safer, but more expensive means of transportation.’
So basically they made babies, and since it’s more complicated to tour with babies, they are asking for some help from fans? I am not sure I was seeing this use of Kickstarter. How did bands manage to tour before? Sure, they offer all kinds of nice stuff in exchange, private shows, some meet-and-greet the band, signed memorabilia, unreleased songs, t-shirts,… but I am not sure I would feel comfortable with the situation if I were an artist, it would sound a little bit too much like prostitution to me. I don’t want to beat up this band in particular, many others are doing the same thing! Even actor Zach Braff was recently in the news for that same reason,… Garden State/Scrubs Zach Braff needs money? Amanda Palmer was no starving artist either in the first place and she raised more than $1 million, Braff has already passed $2 million. So is it an exploitation of the fans?
Kickstarter is the ultimate DIY project, and you have to be very confident in your art to pre-sale it this way to fans, artists are even fixing a goal, and if money is necessary to record an album, this brings the problem to put a price tag on art. Furthermore, there is always the possibility that the final project will disappoint the fans or will never reach them! Take Animal Collective’s Josh Dibb aka Deakin, he raised $26,000 on Kickstarter back in 2009 to perform at festival au desert in Mali, but three years later, donors were complaining that they hadn’t received any of the promised rewards (books, CDs,…)! Dibb apologized through Pitchfork in September 2012, saying that the project actually turned into a ‘charity thing’, but failing to explain clearly why the merchandise wasn’t delivered: ‘The gifts were supposed to be based around the music that I had been writing at that time, and when I came back, I personally felt really dissatisfied with it.’ ‘For me, as an artist — whether or not people can be sympathetic to this or not — it's just been a much slower process to do things on my own than with the band.’ I understand that artists aren’t machines but asking money and not being able to follow is a big problem, 3 years is a long time, and this creates an awkward relationship between fans and artists.
A lot of people have been complaining about the abuse that goes on with Kickstarter, Amanda Palmer was an artist performing in the streets so she doesn’t have any problem at holding her hat and begging for money. However, I see many artists who would have a problem with this situation, it’s precisely a relationship some of them don’t want with their public.
Plus Kickstarter is submerged with these campaigns of unknown artists asking for money, how many of them will actually make some music which will stand out of the lot? How can we find out? I wouldn’t be able to sort out the thousand of projects currently online. And why do three kids making music in their basement think they deserve a financed demo, a recording, or a tour in the first place? Have they earned it?… Outside of the music world, the abuse is even worst. Who wants to finance my ‘artist in residence project’ in Tibet? Are you kidding me? Pay for your own vacation if you want one.
At the end, if people want to give money, nobody is forcing them, as nobody is forcing me to give a dollar to this street entertainer. Sure, but it cheapens the process so much. Artists have a great tool with Kickstarter, and they should be careful to not breaking it.