D.o.S. wrote:This band I know started a kickstarter for $1,000 to tour across the country. They made the goal, and did the tour.
It's all in how you use it,
I backed a band called It's not night: it's space and I think their kick starter was only for $5k or $6k. Something low like that. They did it to pay for recording an album and releasing a cd/vinyl. I got the vinyl. I think that was a fine use of kickstarter, it was basically a presale to fund the recording and making of physical copies. Using it to raise 6k for a non concurrent tour of one state is bullshit. Especially if people still had to pay to get into the shows.
I like kickstarter and have used it to back a few things, but I have been very careful of what I have backed. I have seen the stories of backing something and then never seeing anything. The biggest problem I see with kickstarter is that a lot of people who would normally would not make a product or run a business, use the system. This is cool in that a bunch of new things can be put out.
But it also means that a bunch of people who have no idea on how to do shit, promise a bunch and have no idea on how to actually accomplish it. Because when you get down to it a kickstarter is like a mini business and if you have no idea on how to manage a business then you are kinda screwing yourself before you even start. Not knowing how to estimate costs of material, lengths of time for development or construction, costs for testing, etc.