Kickstarter Campaigns Are an Effective Way to Finance Creative Projects - Essay Example

Kickstarter funding campaigns are a stage for creative projects in various fields including games, film, music, art, technology, and design. Kickstarters are characterized by imaginative and innovative projects that are supported and brought to life by the efforts of other individuals. Since its commencement in 2009 over $ 1 billion has been promised to fund over 50,000 creative projects (Trump). This is overwhelming proof that Kickstarter campaigns are an efficient way of funding creative projects. This essay discusses gives the pros and cons of Kickstarter campaigns are an effective way to finance creative projects.

At the start, Kickstarter campaigns were simply viewed as a platform for helping start-up theatre companies and artists to raise the amount of money that is sufficient to get their projects up and running. Surprisingly, over time these campaigns have proven to be an effective way of raising money for well-known artists and projects (Cebulski 78). For instance, in 2012, a video game guru, Tim Schafer had aimed at making $400,000 but eventually he made $3.36 million. Additionally, Amanda Palmer, a musician had set a goal to make $100, 000 on a music album but ended up making more than $1 million (Trump).

Despite the immense success enjoyed by the kick starter campaigns in funding creative projects, there have been cases of failure leading to increasing criticism from skeptics. It has been observed that in the long- run, Kickstarter-funded programs fail to materialize and get into trouble. However, this failure can be attributed to the Kickstarter model that takes into account the two examples discussed above (Cebulski 78). Palmer was criticized for asking for help from local musicians after her big break while Schafer stated that his project was headed to exceed its budget. This leads to the conclusion that those that contributed to the Kickstarter projects were fooled.

On the other hand, it is important to bear in mind that those that support Kick starter campaigns are not looking to invest or get the greatest value for their money. The logic of the Kickstarter campaigns is understood once an individual understands that the concept follows the concept of a gift not that of a free market (Cebulski 78). Consequently, people contribute to their work since they know them personally or are intrigued by their videos.

From the above discussion, it is clear that the benefits of Kickstarter campaigns as an effective way to finance creative projects outweigh the losses. Additionally, there have been numerous success stories showing that Kickstarter campaigns are an effective way to finance creative projects. Read More