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| style="text-align:center;"| 2 || style="text-align:right; padding-right:8px;"| 8,596,475 || [[OUYA]]: A New Kind of Video Game Console || Ouya || Video Games|| style="text-align:right;" | 905 || style="text-align:right;" | 63,416 || style="text-align:center;"| 2012-08-09 || [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console?ref=live]
| style="text-align:center;"| 2 || style="text-align:right; padding-right:8px;"| 8,596,475 || [[OUYA]]: A New Kind of Video Game Console || Ouya || Video Games|| style="text-align:right;" | 905 || style="text-align:right;" | 63,416 || style="text-align:center;"| 2012-08-09 || [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console?ref=live]
|-
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 3 || style="text-align:right; padding-right:8px;"| 3,415,558 || Reaper Miniatures Bones: An Evolution Of Gaming Miniatures || [[Reaper Miniatures]] || Games || style="text-align:right;" | 11,385 || style="text-align:right;" | 17,659 || style="text-align:center;"| 2012-08-25 || [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-an-evolution-of-gaming-min]
| style="text-align:center;"| 3 || style="text-align:right; padding-right:8px;"| 3,416,248 || Reaper Miniatures Bones: An Evolution Of Gaming Miniatures || [[Reaper Miniatures]] || Games || style="text-align:right;" | 11,387 || style="text-align:right;" | 17,664 || style="text-align:center;"| 2012-08-25 || [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-an-evolution-of-gaming-min]
|-
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| 4 || style="text-align:right; padding-right:8px;"| 3,336,371 || ''[[Double Fine Adventure]]'' || [[Double Fine]] and [[2 Player Productions]] || Video Games || style="text-align:right;"| 834 || style="text-align:right;"| 87,142 || style="text-align:center;"| 2012-03-13 || [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure]
| style="text-align:center;"| 4 || style="text-align:right; padding-right:8px;"| 3,336,371 || ''[[Double Fine Adventure]]'' || [[Double Fine]] and [[2 Player Productions]] || Video Games || style="text-align:right;"| 834 || style="text-align:right;"| 87,142 || style="text-align:center;"| 2012-03-13 || [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure]

Revision as of 22:14, 25 August 2012

Kickstarter
Logo
Type of site
Crowd funding
Available inEnglish
Headquarters
New York City, New York State
,
United States
URLhttp://www.kickstarter.com
CommercialYes

Kickstarter is a crowd funding website for creative projects.[1] Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors,[2] ranging from indie films, music and comics to journalism, video games, and food-related projects.[3]

History

Kickstarter launched on April 28th, 2009 by Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, and Charles Adler.[4] The New York Times called Kickstarter "the people's NEA"[5] and Time named it one of the "Best Inventions of 2010"[6] and "Best Websites of 2011".[7] Kickstarter reportedly raised $10 million funding from backers including NYC-based venture firm Union Square Ventures and angel investors such as Jack Dorsey, Zach Klein and Caterina Fake.[8] The company is based in Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Andy Baio served as the site's CTO until November 2010, when he joined Expert Labs.[9] Lance Ivy has been Lead Developer since the website launched.[10]

Model

One of a number of fundraising platforms dubbed "crowd funding,"[11] Kickstarter facilitates gathering monetary resources from the general public, a model which circumvents many traditional avenues of investment.[12] Projects must meet Kickstarter's guidelines to launch — charity, cause, "fund-my-life" projects and open-ended fundraising are not permitted.[13] Project creators choose a deadline and a goal minimum of funds to raise. If the chosen goal is not gathered by the deadline, no funds are collected (this is known as a provision point mechanism).[14] Money pledged by donors is collected using Amazon Payments.[15] The platform is open to backers from anywhere in the world and to creators who are permanent US residents of 18 years of age or older, with a US address, US bank account, a US state-issued driver's license, and a major US credit or debit card.[16] The company announced it would open up to creators in the UK in July 2012.[17]

Kickstarter takes 5% of the funds raised.[18] Amazon charges an additional 3–5%.[19] Unlike many forums for fundraising or investment, Kickstarter claims no ownership over the projects and the work they produce. However, projects launched on the site are permanently archived and accessible to the public. After funding is completed, projects and uploaded media cannot be edited or removed from the site.[20]

There is no guarantee that people that post projects on Kickstarter will deliver on their projects, use the money to implement their projects, or that the completed projects will meet backers expectations, and Kickstarter itself has been accused of providing little quality control.[21][22][23] Kickstarter advises sponsors to use their own judgment on supporting a project. They also warn project leaders that they could be liable for legal damages from sponsors for failure to deliver on promises.[24] Projects can also fail even after a successful fund raise when creators underestimate the total costs required or technical difficulties to be overcome.[21][25]

Projects

On June 21, 2012, Kickstarter began publishing statistics on its projects.[26] As of August 22, 2012, there were 68,224 launched projects (3,772 in progress), with a success rate of 44.01%. The completed successful projects had raised a total of $275 million.[27]

The business has grown quickly in its early years. In the year 2010, Kickstarter had 3,910 successful projects, $27,638,318 pledged, and a project success rate of 43%. In 2011, the corresponding figures were 11,836, $99,344,381 and 46%.[28]

February 9, 2012 saw a number of landmarks set by Kickstarter. A dock made for the iPhone designed by Casey Hopkins became the first Kickstarter project to break a million dollars pledged. A few hours later, a project by computer game developers Double Fine Productions to fund a new adventure game reached the same figure having been launched less than 24 hours earlier, and finished with over $3 million pledged.[29] This was also the first single day in which Kickstarter raised over a million dollars in pledges.[30] On May 18, 2012, The Pebble E-Paper Watch raised $10,266,845 to become the most funded project in Kickstarter history.[31]

In July 2012, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick and Jeanne Pi conducted research into what contributes to a project’s success or failure on Kickstarter. Some key findings from the analysis: Increasing goal size is negatively associated with success. Projects that are featured have a 89% chance of being successful, compared to 30% without. For an average $10,000 project, a 30-day project has a 35% chance of success, while a 60-day project has a 29% chance of success, all other things being constant.[32]

The ten largest Kickstarter projects by funds raised are listed below. Among successful projects, most raise between $1,000 and $9,999. This proportion drops to less than half in the Design, Games, and Technology categories. However, the median money raised for the latter two categories remains in the four-figure range. There is substantial variation in the success rate of projects falling under different categories. Over two thirds of completed dance projects have been successful. In contrast, fewer than 30% of completed fashion projects have reached their goal. Most failing projects fail to achieve 20% of their goals and this trend applies across all categories. Indeed over 80% of projects that pass the 20% mark reach their goal.[27]

Categories

Creators categorize their projects into one of 13 categories and 36 subcategories.[33] They are: Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film and Video, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology and Theater. Of these categories, Film & Video and Music are the largest, accounting for more than half of Kickstarter projects between them and having raised the most money. These categories, along with Games, account for over half the money raised.[27]

Notable projects and creators

Several creative works have gone on to receive critical acclaim and accolades after being funded on Kickstarter. The documentary short "Sun Come Up" and feature documentary "Incident in New Baghdad" were each nominated for an Academy Award;[34][35] contemporary art projects "EyeWriter" and "Hip-Hop Word Count" were both chosen to exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art in 2011;[36] filmmaker Matt Porterfield was selected to screen his film Putty Hill at the Whitney Biennial In 2012;[37] author Rob Walker's Hypothetical Futures project exhibited at the 13th International Venice Architecture Biennale;[38] designer Scott Wilson won a National Design Award from Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum following the success of his TikTok + LunaTik project;[39] and approximately 10% of the films accepted into the Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca Film Festivals funded projects on Kickstarter.[40][41]

Numerous well-known creators have used Kickstarter to produce their work, including: musicians Amanda Palmer,[42] Daniel Johnston,[43] Stuart Murdoch[44] and Tom Rush;[45] filmmakers and actors Bret Easton Ellis,[46] Colin Hanks,[47] Ed Begley, Jr.,[48] Gary Hustwit,[49] Hal Hartley,[50] Jennie Livingston,[51] Mark Duplass,[52] Matthew Modine,[53] Paul Schrader,[54] Ricki Lake,[55] Whoopi Goldberg[56] and Zana Briski; authors and writers Dan Harmon,[57] Kevin Kelly,[58] Neal Stephenson,[59] and Seth Godin;[60] photographers Spencer Tunick[61] and Gerd Ludwig;[62] game developers Tim Schafer[63] and Brian Fargo;[64] designer Stefan Sagmeister;[65] animator John Kricfalusi; Star Trek actor John de Lancie and comedian Eugene Mirman .[66]

Top projects by funds raised

Ten largest successfully completed Kickstarter projects by total funds pledged
Rank Total USD Project name Author Category % funded Backers Closing date Link
1 10,266,845 Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android Pebble Technology Design 10,266 68,928 2012-05-18 [1]
2 8,596,475 OUYA: A New Kind of Video Game Console Ouya Video Games 905 63,416 2012-08-09 [2]
3 3,416,248 Reaper Miniatures Bones: An Evolution Of Gaming Miniatures Reaper Miniatures Games 11,387 17,664 2012-08-25 [3]
4 3,336,371 Double Fine Adventure Double Fine and 2 Player Productions Video Games 834 87,142 2012-03-13 [4]
5 2,933,252 Wasteland 2 InXile Entertainment Video Games 325 61,290 2012-04-17 [5]
6 1,836,447 Shadowrun Returns Harebrained Schemes LLC Video Games 459 38,276 2012-04-29 [6]
7 1,464,706 Elevation Dock: The Best Dock For iPhone Casey Hopkins Design 1,952 12,521 2012-02-11 [7]
8 1,254,120 The Order of the Stick Reprint Drive Rich Burlew Comics 2,171 14,952 2012-02-21 [8]
9 1,192,793 Amanda Palmer: The new RECORD, ART BOOK, and TOUR Amanda Palmer Music 1,192 24,883 2012-05-31 [9]
10 951,254 Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster CoolMiniOrNot Board & Card Games 4,756 4,278 2012-06-30 [10]
Highest grossing ongoing drives
Closing date Project name Author Category Link
2012-09-01 Oculus Rift: Step Into the Game Palmer Luckey Technology [11]

Project cancellations

Both Kickstarter and project creators have cancelled projects that appeared to have been fraudulent. Questions were raised about the projects in internet communities related to the fields of the projects. The concerns raised were: apparent copying of graphics from other sources; unrealistic performance or price claims; and failure of project sponsors to deliver on prior Kickstarter projects. Cancelled projects include:

  • Eye3 camera drone helicopter for unrealistic performance promises, photos copied from other commercial products, and failure of creators to deliver on an earlier Kickstarter project.[67]
  • Mythic: The Story of Gods and Men adventure game for copying graphics from other games and unrealistic performance promises; the creator had raised $4,739 on an $80,000 goal before canceling the project.[68]
  • Tech-Sync Power System for failing to provide photos of the prototype and sudden departure of project creator.[69]
  • Tentacle Bento, a card game intended to satirize Japanese school girl tentacle rape comics, after being criticized in the online media for having inappropriate content.[70]
  • In May 2011, a New York University film student raised $1,726 to make a film, but plagiarized another film instead. The student publicly apologized and the issue has since been settled.[71][72]

Patent dispute

On September 30, 2011, Kickstarter filed a request for declaratory judgment against ArtistShare and Fan Funded which owns U.S. patent US 7885887 , "Methods and apparatuses for financing and marketing a creative work". Brian Camelio, the founder of ArtistShare, is named as the inventor on the patent. KickStarter said it believed it is under threat of a patent infringement lawsuit by ArtistShare. Kickstarter asked that the patent be invalidated, or, at the very least, that the court find that Kickstarter is not liable of infringement.[73][74][75] In February 2012, ArtistShare and Fan Funded responded to Kickstarter's complaint by filing a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. They asserted that patent infringement litigation was never threatened, that "ArtistShare merely approached KickStarter about licensing their platform, including patent rights", and that "rather than responding to ArtistShare's request for a counter-proposal, Kickstarter filed this lawsuit."[76] The judge has ruled, however, that the case can go forward. ArtistShare has since responded by filing a counterclaim alleging that Kickstarter is indeed infringing its patent.[77]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Creating a Project » Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) — Kickstarter". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
  2. ^ Levy, Shawn (May 29, 2010). "Kickstarter raises money online for artistic endeavors, tapping into Portland ethos". The Oregonian.
  3. ^ Wortham, Jenna (August 24, 2009). "A Few Dollars at a Time, Patrons Support Artists on the Web". The New York Times.
  4. ^ Wauters, Robin (April 29, 2009). "Kickstarter Launches Another Social Fundraising Platform".
  5. ^ Walker, Rob (August 5, 2011). "The Trivialities and Transcendence of Kickstarter". The New York Times. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  6. ^ Snyder, Steven James (November 11, 2010). "The 50 Best Inventions of 2010". TIME. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  7. ^ McCracken, Harry (August 16, 2011). "The 50 Best Websites of 2011". TIME. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  8. ^ Kafka, Peter. "Kickstarter Fesses Up: The Crowdsourced Funding Start-Up Has Funding, Too". All Things D. Dow Jones & Company Inc. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  9. ^ Andy Baio. "Joining Expert Labs". waxy.org. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  10. ^ crunchbase.com (November 30, 2010). "Kickstarter CrunchBase Profile".
  11. ^ Villano, Matt (March 14, 2010). "Small Donations in Large Numbers, With Online Help". The New York Times.
  12. ^ Gould, Emily. "Start me up". Technology Review. MIT. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  13. ^ "Community Guidelines — Kickstarter". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  14. ^ Musgrove, Mike (March 7, 2010). "At Play: Kickstarter is a Web site for the starving artist". The Washington Post.
  15. ^ Stross, Randall (April 2, 2010). "You, Too, Can Bankroll a Rock Band". The New York Times.
  16. ^ Kickstarter official FAQ for project creators
  17. ^ "Crowd-sourced funding site Kickstarter to launch in UK". BBC. July 10, 2012.
  18. ^ "Creators - Freuquently Asked Questions (FAQ)". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  19. ^ "Creators - Freuquently Asked Questions (FAQ)". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  20. ^ Official website (Retrieved 2010). "Kickstarter.com FAQ". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ a b Adrianne Jeffries, "Jellyfish Tanks, Funded 54 Times Over on Kickstarter, Turn Out to Be Jellyfish Death Traps UPDATED", BetaBeat, March 15, 2012
  22. ^ Joe Brown, "We're Done With Kickstarter", Gizmodo, March 29, 2012
  23. ^ Ryan Tate, "End Online Panhandling Forever!", Gawker, November 10, 2011
  24. ^ "Kickstarter FAQ "If I am unable to complete my project as listed, what should I do?"". kickstarter.com.
  25. ^ Kevin Stout, "Kickstarter, Pros and Cons", 148Apps.biz, April 23, 2012
  26. ^ Strickler, Yancey. "Kickstarter Stats".
  27. ^ a b c "Kickstarter Stats". Kickstarter. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  28. ^ "2011: The Stats", January 9, 2012, Kickstarter.com, accessed February 3, 2012.
  29. ^ "Double Fine Kickstarter hits 3 million, drive closing on Ustream", Joystiq, March 13, 2012, Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  30. ^ Carl Franzen "Crowd-Funding Website Kickstarter Has Double Million Dollar Day", TPM, February 10, 2012, Retrieved February 11, 2012
  31. ^ "Update #5: Most Funded Kickstarter Ever! Thank You!".
  32. ^ Mollick, Ethan (July 15, 2012). "The Dynamics of Crowdfunding: Determinants of Success and Failure". Social Science Research Network.
  33. ^ "Discover — Kickstarter". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  34. ^ Staff, NPR (February 26, 2011). "The Love Sory Behind Oscar Nominee Sun Come Up". NPR.
  35. ^ Montgomery, David (February 21, 2012). "Incident in New Baghdad: What Happened in Iraq?". The Washington Post.
  36. ^ "Talk to Me — MoMA". MoMA.org. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
  37. ^ "Matt Porterfield". whitney.org. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
  38. ^ Titunik, Vera (May 15, 2012). "Real Designs fo Fake Buildings Are Going to Venice". The New York Times.
  39. ^ "National Design Awards". CooperHewitt.org. Retrieved July 2, 2012.
  40. ^ Carr, David (January 30, 2012). "At Sundance, Kickstarter Resembled a Movie Studio, but Without the Egos". The New York Times.
  41. ^ Watercutter, Angela (March 9, 2012). "When SXSW Money Crunch Hits, Kickstarter Comes to the Rescue". Wired.
  42. ^ Sisario, Ben (June 5, 2012). "Giving Love, Lots of It, To Her Fans". The New York Times.
  43. ^ McCarter, Reid (January 27, 2011). "The Weekly Kickstarter: Daniel Johnston and the Comic Book". The Social Times.
  44. ^ Eanet, Lindsay (January 13, 2012). "You Can Help Stuart Murdoch From Belle & Sebastian Make a Movie". BlackBook.
  45. ^ Young, Robin (May 15, 2012). "Folk Singer Tom Rush Kickstarts 50th Anniversary Concert". NPR.
  46. ^ Carlson, Erin (May 4, 2012). "Bret Easton Ellis Is Using Kickstarter to Finance 'The Canyons' Indie". The Hollywood Reporter.
  47. ^ Aswad, Jem (June 2, 2011). "Colin Hanks Uses Kickstarter to Help Fund His Tower Records Doc". The Hollywood Reporter.
  48. ^ d'Estries, Michael (February 17, 2012). "To Build America's Greenest Home, Actor Ed Begley Jr. Needs Your Help". Forbes.
  49. ^ Jr, Core (February, 2012). "Gary Hustwit's Urbanized on Kickstarter + Trailer Preview". Core77. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  50. ^ Anderson, John (January 4, 2012). "Sundance Offers a Web Afterlife for Its Alumni". The New York Times.
  51. ^ Renninger, Bryce (January 6, 2011). "In the Works: New Doc from "Paris is Burning" Director, Sundance's "Pariah," Chicago Mob Boss & More". IndieWire.
  52. ^ Prigge, Matt (March 15, 2012). "Mark Duplass Talks About His Newest Film, "Jeff Who Lives at Home"". Philadelphia Weekly.
  53. ^ Herbert, Chris (April 21, 2011). "Kickstarter Project: "Full Metal Jacket Diary" — The iPad App". MacStories.
  54. ^ Tiku, Nitasha (May 3, 2012). "Bret Easton Ellis and Paul Schrader are Raising Money for Their Upcoming Thriller The Canyons on Kickstarter". The New York Observer.
  55. ^ "Ricki Lake Teaches Us Even More About Birth". Parenting.com. July 8, 2011. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  56. ^ Smith, Nigel (June 27, 2012). "Why Whoopi Goldberg is Using Kickstarter to Fund Her Directorial Debut". IndieWire.
  57. ^ Strecker, Erin (July 12, 20112). "Charlie Kaufman, Dan Harmon use Kickstarter to fund next movie". Entertainment Weekly. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  58. ^ Frauenfelder, Mark (June 20, 2012). "The Silver Cord by Kevin Kelly". Boing Boing.
  59. ^ Kain, Erik (June 13, 2012). "Neal Stephenson's Clang Is a Kickstarter Devoted to Sword Fighting". Forbes.
  60. ^ Trachtenberg, Jeffrey (June 24, 2012). "Giving Book Readers a Say". The Wall Street Journal.
  61. ^ Laster, Paul (February 16, 2012). "Spencer Tunick: On Stealing Cameras, Controversy, and Kickstarter". The 99 Percent.
  62. ^ Ismael Ruiz, Matthew (March 19, 2012). "Kickstarter: How the Web Is Helping Photographers Fund Their Work". Popular Photography.
  63. ^ Netburn, Deborah (March 13, 2012). "Double Fine Raises $3.25 Million on Kickstarter for New Game". Los Angeles Times.
  64. ^ Orland, Kyle (March 15, 2012). "Interplay's Brian Fargo Finds Fan Funding for Wasteland Sequel". Ars Technica.
  65. ^ Drumm, Perrin (September 12, 2011). "Best of Kickstarter, 9/12: The Happy Film". Sundance Channel.
  66. ^ McGlynn, Katia (July 12, 2011). "Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival Using Kickstarter to Fund Awkward Party BUs, Sex Pit & More". The Huffington Post.
  67. ^ Evan Ackerman “Update:Eye3 Drone Officially Too Good to be True”, IEEE Spectrum January 31, 2012.
  68. ^ Adrianne Jeffries. "This Is What a Kickstarter Scam Looks Like". Betabeat.
  69. ^ Adrian Jeffries, “When Kickstarter Goes Wrong: Were 419 Backers Almost Taken for a $27,637 Ride?”, BetaBeat, September 15, 2011.
  70. ^ Kirk Hamilton “Creator of ‘Satirical’ Tentacle-Rape Game Apologizes”, Kotaku, May 17, 2012
  71. ^ Tanzer, Myles (May 9, 2011). "NYU Tisch Student Makes Plagiarized Film To Win Festival Prize After Raising $1,700 On Kickstarter · NYU Local". NYU Local. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  72. ^ Sam Biddle. "NYU Film Student Plagiarizes His Way to Kickstarter Fame". Gizmodo.
  73. ^ Sarah Jacobsson Purewal (October 5, 2011). "Kickstarter Faces Patent Suit Over Funding Idea". PCWorld. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  74. ^ Eriq Gardner (October 4, 2011). "KickStarter Seeks To Protect Fan-Funding Model From Patent Threat". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
  75. ^ "Crowdfunding-sites verwikkeld in patentstrijd" (in Dutch). NUzakelijk. October 5, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011. Het gaat om de website Kickstarter die een patent van website ArtistShare ongeldig wil verklaren. Kickstarter ontving verschillende verzoeken van ArtistShare-oprichter Brian Camelio om een licentie op zijn patent te nemen." English translation: "The website Kickstarter wants that a patent from the ArtistShare website be declared invalid. Kickstarter received several requests from ArtistShare-founder Brian Camelio to take a license on his patent {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  76. ^ Eriq Gardner (February 16, 2012). "Hollywood Docket: Comedy Club Documentary Lawsuit; Michael Jordan vs. 1st Amendment". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  77. ^ Jeffries, Adrianne (May 14, 2012). "Kickstarter Wins Small Victory in Patent Lawsuit With 2000-Era Crowdfunding Site". BetaBeat. The New York Observer. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
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