CROWDFUNDING

CROWDFUNDING

Crowdfunding is a word I had never heard of until I came across an article while doing research for a Finance class.  It is a type of funding similar to a co-op where individuals jointly own enterprises or endeavors for mutual benefit. Crowdfunding is primarily done over the World Wide Web. Anybody can find a cause that uses crowdfunding to support an artist, a band or a movie. Political campaigns could be considered as crowdfunding. The advantage to this type of funding is that bands or an artist would not have to solicit funds from a large corporation or borrow money from a bank. Disaster relief efforts or fundraisers by well known bands are crowdfunding, such as in 1984 “Feed the World”, 2010 Nashville Flood Relief benefit concert and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina benefit concerts. For bands looking for funding (https://www.sellaband.com/) is a site where bands can upload their music. Anybody can then listen to the music and donate money towards any band they like. It is not an investment tool there are no monetary returns like stocks. But, there are incentives much like pledge drives for PBS TV and Radio. Donate $10 you’ll get a CD from the band or a DVD from a movie if it is released. (http://www.movies.com/movie-news/what-is-crowdfunding/5107) This website has various links to projects in the United States that are using crowdfunding as an alternative resource for to raise capital.