Kickstarter: Technological Breakthrough or Nerdy Panhandling?

Chico band Armed for Apocalypse recently announced that they had started a kickstarter to help the band get to Europe for a slew of European tour dates. Though the band is signed to a record label,with which it has released two albums, they couldn't afford the $5,700 in plane tickets to get to their European destination. So they did what most people in media looking for financial backing do nowadays. They started a Kickstarter!

According to the kickstarter website, the company was founded in April 2009 as a way for creative projects to attain the funding needed for the project. Whether it's related to movies, music (or other creative projects) Kickstarter seems to be all the new rage when it comes to raising money. This sort of internet panhandling works too. Armed for Apocalypse's European tour with 36 Crazy Fists kicks off on November 1st. 

But it's not just local bands that are looking for donations. Former 'Scrubs' star Zach Braff was recently the subject of controversy after he raised $2 million dollars towards his kickstarter campaign to fund the sequel to "Garden State". And rightfully so. With all that money he made from 'Scrubs' and Garden State, is it necessary for the actor/writer/director to ask for his fans to fund the production of the movie? And then pay again to see the movie when it comes out?

Braff rebukes the critics saying the kickstarter campaign has given him the right to "final cut, casting choices, location choices, and cutting down your script". Not only has the kickstarter campaign given artists a new platform to raise money for their projects,  it has given artist's the freedom to create a project without the strings that may be attached to financial backing from sources not found on kickstarter.

Back in the Nineties, Kevin Smith made his debut masterpiece "Clerks" from $27,000 dollars, mostly on maxed-out credit cards. The majority of the film was shot at the convenience store where Smith worked in real-life. Back in the nineties would Smith have used Kickstarter? Probably then but not today. When asked about whether "crowd funding" would be used to fund "Clerks III", Smith asserted that he didn't want to take from the money pot that "could go to budding filmmakers without access to financing", instead opting to finance the film himself.

While kickstarter is a great way for beginning artists to gain money, you have to wonder whether rich actors, such as Zach Braff, are starting kickstarters to both gain funding for their projects and market their project, killing two birds with one proverbial stone. But as long as we have new ways to make money, people will be using those platforms. Either way, if you're an artist looking for funds, it's clear that kickstarter is the way to go.