Kickstarter: A Kick Right In The Balls, or New Starts For Dead Careers. Part 4

Three Beneficiaries Under the New Paradigm, From A to Z

Following are three examples of creators who have benefited most generously from using Kickstarter (Kickstarter didn't make out so badly itself.)  I'd planned to provide commentary for each campaign, but I'll largely refrain in favor of providing information, and then allowing you to judge for yourself.  

Note:  Wikipedia, a scourge for information professionals, serves the purpose for providing biographical information well enough.  Net worth figures are culled from http://www.celebritynetworth.com/, the only resource of its kind on the net.  I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the figures, but in these cases, they seem close enough.  

Zach Braff

Bio:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zach_Braff

Partial Resume:  Garden State, Scrubs

Full Resume:  See http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0103785/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Kickstarter Project:  Wish I Was Here
Kickstarter Project Page:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1869987317/wish-i-was-here-1

Sought:  $2,000,000

Received:  $3,105,473
Kickstarter's Cut:  $155, 273.65

Zach Braff's Net Worth:  $22 Million
Gall Factor:  High

For further reading:

http://www.ifc.com/fix/2013/05/zach-braff-kickstarter-backlash
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/may/16/zach-braff-kickstarter-controversy-deepens
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/zach-braff-kickstarter
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/was-it-ethical-for-zach-braff-to-take-to-kickstarter.html?_r=0

Whoopi Goldberg

Bio:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberg

Partial Resume:  The Color Purple, Comic Relief, Ghost, The View, "Roman Polanski wasn't guility of 'rape-rape.'"

Full Resume:  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000155/?ref_=sr_1

Kickstarter Project:  Whoopi Goldberg's Documentary, "I Got Somethin' To Tell You"

Kickstarter Project Page:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1085942094/whoopi-goldbergs-documentary-i-got-somethin-to-tel

Sought:  $65,000

Received:  $73,764
Kickstarter's Cut:  $3,688.20

Whoopi Goldberg's Net Worth:  $45 Million

Gall Factor:  Pretty high, considering that, surely, Ms. Goldberg could find that kind of money underneath her couch cushions.  Also, her reasons for seeking funding via Kickstarter are puzzling.  I invite you to visit her project page and look at her rewards.  I'm not sure that her net take will cover those and a documentary.  You be the judge.

Amanda "Fucking" Palmer

Bio:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Palmer

Partial Resume:  The Dresden Dolls, Made Big Stink After Kickstarter Campaign, Self-Styled Provocateur, Wife of Neil Gaiman, Successful Author
Kickstarter Project:  Amanda Palmer:  The new RECORD, ART BOOK, AND TOUR

Kickstarter Project Page:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-the-new-record-art-book-and-tour/posts

Full Resume:  I'm Certain You Can Find It At The official website of Amanda Fucking Palmer. Yes it is.

Sought:  $100,000  

Received:  $1,192,793
Kickstarter's Cut:  $59,693.65

Amanda "And By Now I'm Tired of Perpetuating Her Cult of Self-Styled Bad-Assness So From This Point Forward I'll Simply Call Her Amanda Palmer-Gaiman" Palmer-Gaiman's Net Worth:  No Resources Found

Neil Gaiman's Net Worth:  $18 Million  

Gall Factor:  Not measurable with current technology. Maybe someone should design an app expressly for measuring all of Amanda Palmer-Gaiman's galling activities, and, after securing her blessing (she's the all-but-official cheerleader for Kickstarter), pitch the idea to Kickstarter.

For further reading/consideration:

http://gawker.com/5944050/amanda-palmers-million+dollar-music-project-and-kickstarters-accountability-problem
http://www.stereogum.com/1151562/steve-albini-amanda-palmer-is-an-idiot/franchises/wheres-the-beef/
http://www.stereogum.com/1154552/amanda-palmer-albini-is-a-grumpy-fuck-albini-shes-gross/franchises/wheres-the-beef/
http://www.stereogum.com/1156841/amanda-palmer-now-paying-volunteer-musicians/franchises/wheres-the-beef/

Also:

Here, I'll touch on two noteworthy items from the graphic above.  First, I don't doubt that there's "something magical" about receiving over $1 Million from total strangers.  Second, and more significantly, she refers to Kickstarter's "art-supporting fanatics" as a "club."  The term "club" smacks of exclusivity and privilege.  Surely she didn't intend it that way, right?  Maybe not, but it looks as though Kickstarter celebrity gerrymandering is well underway.  

Their gerrymandering actually dilutes the pool, forcing the struggling artist to compete against the likes of Zach Braff, Whoopi Goldberg, and Amanda Palmer-Gaiman.  Who knows who else in the future?  KISS?  A Kickstarter campaign doesn't seem beneath them.  

Before I wrap it all up, here's a final question:  how does any of this differ from Kenny G. approaching a street musician, telling him that he needs backers to make a new album, and asking whether he can have the change in the guy's hat?  Well, I don't know.  What are Kenny G's rewards?    



I Did It Myself

"The pen is only mightier than the sword if it still has ink." -

I Quoted Myself

In my proposal, I thanked Kickstarter for providing a forum for me and other struggling artists to tell our stories.  I thought my story compelling enough to attract benefactors.  I thanked them too soon -  Kickstarter's denial ensured that I never got the chance to take my plea to donors.  I still think my story is compelling, so I elected to keep my campaign going, almost certainly without Kickstarter's blessing.

Although I lack a benefactor (a job would be nice), I still hold to hope.  I'm married to the best woman a guy could hope for.  I have plenty of supportive friends, all of whom are the best a guy could hope for.  I have health insurance, which is a true luxury for anyone now, artist or not.  I should qualify for disability between current unemployment and ultimate career, and, for now, my computer still allows me to listen to "Ventura Highway" on Spotify (deprecated version) and write.

NOTE:  Spotify crashed during my writing of and research for this piece .  Maybe I should have closed TextEdit.

Yes my friends, the pen still has some ink in it yet, and as long as it does, I'll keep going. One of my true blessings is that I have a voice; with it, I've told my story, the one that Kickstarter wouldn't allow me to.  To borrow a bit of lingo from the new paradigm, I hope my story has been a reward for you.  It has been for me.  

And who knows?  Mabye one day, and I'm guessing that that day is still in the distant future, I'll have the opportunity to create another Kickstarter campaign, one that competes with an aging, ever-more-whacked-out Axl Rose's.

Last Words, Bound for Infame 

To see for yourself just how smitten Kickstarter is with transparency, go here: http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/kickstarter+basics#Acco
Even if you don't particularly care about that, you should at least read the bit about U2.

What do you know?  A handy link!  "Is it really U2?!"  "Well, it is if Bono's talking about the project."  See, that's how you know.  You should read it for yourself anyway.  

Kickstarter charges 5%, and Amazon charges anywhere from 3-5%.  
From Kickstarter:  http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/kickstarter%20basics

From Amazon:  https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/helpTab/Checkout-by-Amazon/Creating-Managing-Your-Account/Amazon-Payments-Fees

Amazon states, "Our standard rate is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for transactions of $10 or more."  Amazon's cut, then, could be as high as 5.9%.  At 10.9%, maybe you'd be better off going to the bank.  The bank doesn't expect rewards.

These folks put it pretty well themselves:  http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/magazine/110225/the-false-promise-kickstarter#

When my wife returned from work earlier, she informed me that we have to be careful if we pay the cable bill.  Our cable package includes Internet.  Do I publish or do we starve?  Often, art requires the efforts of two.  Sometimes, husband and wife starve together.