Monitor: Putting your money where your mouse is | The Economist [02Sep10] - 0 views
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As crowdfunding has matured from a series of one-off efforts into something reproducible, the money has followed.
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Venture capitalists have also shown an interest by investing in start-ups that facilitate crowdfunding.
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Of those that are accepted, about half meet their funding goals: around 1,600 projects had been funded by July 2010.
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Successful projects, says Mr Chen, usually require an “anchor audience” of friends or fans who engage in “micropatronage”, enjoying the association with a successful project and a personal link with an artist or writer.
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Crowdfunding may turn out to be a fad, says Cory Doctorow, a bestselling novelist and blogger who is experimenting with various forms of micropatronage, including selling a bespoke short story for $10,000 to one of his fans.
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But crowdfunding's early success at raising sums large enough to be useful, though not large enough to replace other sources of funding for creative works, fits in with a broader trend of using technology to bring artists and their audiences closer together.