I wanted to share this article

Can crowds support artists? (Photo courtesy of Photos by Mavis).

as a follow-up to some of the claims that emerged in our discussion about artists, the music industry and how things are changing with digitization. This is an article that reviews a number of arguments related to the possibility of replacing traditional modes of paying for music and other arts with crowdfunding. Not a lot of new material here, but a good overview if this is a topic that you’re interested in.

Here’s a short excerpt, but the whole article is worth reading:

Discussions of crowdfunding tend to focus on the blockbusters—Amanda Palmer’s million-dollar campaign to produce an album after breaking from her label, or fans rallying to finance a film version of the cancelled television show “Veronica Mars.” But these projects are exceptional. The truth is that relatively few artists have crowdfunded their way to an “honest living.” Of the nearly fifty-six thousand projects funded on Kickstarter, about three-quarters have raised less than ten thousand dollars.