Can Crowdfunding Replace Artists' Day Jobs? : The New Yorker

Can Crowdfunding Replace Artists' Day Jobs? : The New Yorker:

In January, Those Cats, a soul and funk band from Statesboro, Georgia, used Kickstarter to solicit funding for their début album. In a video on the site, Scott Underwood, a drummer who works as a cook, listed the project’s expenses. “All these things add up,” he said, in a charming drawl. “And, frankly, our resources are limited.” Supporters pledged thirty-four hundred and fifty-nine dollars. Not bad, but hardly enough for the band members to quit their day jobs.

Kevin Kelly, in his 2008 essay “1,000 True Fans,” imagined a class of artists supporting themselves not through mass popularity but by building a community of dedicated fans who would buy everything they produced. “I am suggesting there is a home for creatives in between poverty and stardom,” he wrote. “Somewhere lower than stratospheric bestsellerdom, but higher than the obscurity of the long tail. I don’t know the actual true number, but I think a dedicated artist could cultivate 1,000 True Fans, and by their direct support using new technology, make an honest living.”