Your Income & Your Art
This weeks topic was; “Your Income and Your Art,” which goes through the process of where do creatives obtain income from?
Being an Audio student, I have put some thought into where I want my career to go. I have decided that Post Production is where I want to be. Being a creative within the music industry may not be where I want to be now, but I don’t think that cutting off all other options is a wise choice. Therefore it is important for me to consider and understand where exactly I am going to be getting my income from and the best way to obtain it.
What I have found interesting is that there has been a movement away from the old business model (especially in the music industry) that was catalysed by the new age of technology. What is most thought-provoking is that with this movement there has been an evolution of patronage resulting in the concept of “Crowdfunding.”
Crowdfunding is not something that I have thought about previously. However it seems that new revenue streams must be explored so that I do not fall behind the industry movement in my field. Crowdfunding can be seen as an alternative way in which people can attract a larger variety of investors (Freedman & Nutting, 2015). Crowdfunding consists of a few different types and is present on many different platforms (Freedman & Nutting, 2015). There are a few different types of crowdfunding including;
- Rewards;
- Equity;
- Debt;
- Litigation; and
- Donation.
Each different platform will cater specifically to one or more of these types of crowdfunding and as of 2012, there were over 450 platforms (Scharwath, 2012).
Crowdfunding can be seen as a way for entrepreneurs to gain capital in the start of a new business or for potential new products. Some of the most successful campaigns have been for Film and to a degree Music (Techdirt., 2016). One of the main issues I came across when reading about crowdfunding is that, there is little to no protection for Intellectual Property. So ideas are not protected by many platforms. This risk can be said to be offset by patents and copyrights, however many campaigns are required to share progress reports, meaning that the creators need to publish their ideas in a public forum without the protection to keep these ideas ‘belonging’ to them.
I think it is important to keep in mind that crowdfunding is not just a spur of the moment decision. There are a range of legal implications that need to be addressed (Bradford, 2012), especially due to the different types of crowdfunding that are available (Kappel, 2009). There is also the fact that you will need to do a lot of research as to what to pitch, how your project will form and generally be very clear as to your goals in the project. I believe appropriate diligence will need to be exercised as some platforms have applications that need to be filled out as well as the legality checked (Spannerfilms.net, 2016). It almost takes a team of skilled people to properly apply for and run a campaign on a crowdfunding platform.
I want to approach the issue of crowdfunding as an income stream with reservation (Melanson, 2011). I don’t believe that it is supposed to be used solely as income, but rather as a way to promote projects to be created wherein the artist would normally create at a loss (economically).
References:
Agrawal, Ajay, Christian Catalini, and Avi Goldfarb. “Some Simple Economics of Crowdfunding.” National Bureau of Economic Research (2014): 63–97
Bradford, C. Steven, “Crowdfunding and the Federal Securities Laws” (2012). College of Law, Faculty Publications. Paper 119. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/lawfacpub/119
Crowdfunding. (2014). Retrieved from https://thestartupgarage.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/the-startup-garage-crowdfunding-pros.jpg
Freedman, D., & Nutting, M. (2015). A Brief History of Crowdfunding Including Rewards, Donation, Debt, and Equity Platforms in the USA (2nd ed.). Retrieved from http://www.freedman-chicago.com/ec4i/History-of-Crowdfunding.pdf
Hogue, J. (2016). Ultimate List of Crowdfunding and Fundraising Websites — Crowd 101. Crowd 101. Retrieved 2 March 2016, from http://www.crowd101.com/list-crowdfunding-and-fundraising-websites/
Isenberg, D. (2012). The Road to Crowdfunding Hell. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 2 March 2016, from https://hbr.org/2012/04/the-road-to-crowdfunding-hell
Kappel, T. (2009). Ex Ante Crowdfunding and the Recording Industry: A Model for the U.S.. Los Angeles: Law Reveiw. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/elr/vol29/iss3/3
Melanson, M. (2011). Can We Crowdfund Our Lives?. Readwrite.com. Retrieved 3 April 2015, from http://readwrite.com/2011/02/08/can_we_crowdfund_our_lives
Spannerfilms.net,. (2016). How To Crowd Fund Your Film | Spanner Films. Retrieved 2 March 2016, from http://www.spannerfilms.net/how_to_crowd_fund_your_film
Techdirt.,. (2016). Amanda Palmer Raises $1.2 Million On Kickstarter, And The Crowd Goes Wild | Techdirt. Retrieved 2 March 2016, from https://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20120601/01173819160/amanda-palmer-raises-12-million-kickstarter-crowd-goes-wild.shtml
