D.I.Y.

Kickstarter’s Low Failure Rate

2Although crowdfunding certainly has its critics, a recent study done by the Wharton Business School has revealed that Kickstarter is now more successful than ever, with up to 91% of its campaigns reaching fruition. 

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Crowdfunding isn't for everyone, but it turns out that the chances of getting a campaign funded are higher than ever. Kickstarter commissioned a study by the prestigious Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania and found that 91% of campaigns on its platform get funded.

4It turns out that the failure rate was about the same across all 15 categories on the platform, and most failures came from campaigns attempting to raise $1,000 or less. The most successful were campaigns attempting to raise between $10,000 and $50,000.

Even if a project failed, 73% of backers felt good enough about the process to want to back another project. That said, just 19% said that they would back the same creator whose project failed.

For those projects that just can't come to fruition, Kickstarter has a number of suggestions:

  • Explain to backers what work has been done, how funds were used, and what stopped them from finishing
  • Demonstrate that you’ve used funds appropriately and have made every reasonable effort to complete the project as promised
  • If there’s money left over, offer to return any remaining funds to backers who have not received their reward, or explain how those funds will be used to complete the project in some alternate form.

Crowdfunding isn't for everyone, especially when it comes to music. As stated in previous posts, unless you already have a broad fan base, your campaign has a good chance of failing unless you use some very clever marketing. But as the Wharton study found, if you do get it off the ground, there's an excellent chance it will succeed.

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