My Problem With Kickstarter

Okay, buckle up, kiddos, this one is gonna be a rant. This isn't due to my own horribly unsuccessful launch (if you could call it that) of my own Kickstarter for my Blue Mist Card Game, no this has been a LONG time coming even before then and now, now it's finally reached the point where I absolutely have to write this. My problem with Kickstarter is that its NOT for independent creators anymore (if it ever was). What do I mean? Let's dive in.

I've often said that in order to launch a successful Kickstarter campaign your project needs to be 100% done, no one goes to Kickstarter with 80%, everyone goes to Kickstarter for distribution, case in point, look no further than a few projects Conjure a trading card game, look at the professional quality of this video, how on Earth are these indy creators when their project looks already professional grade? And this isn't me throwing shade, the artwork looks amazing, the cards look awesome, the video work is great, and all of that costs money. Artwork is NOT cheap, Gunship Revolution charges $150 minimum for their work, and with a game with a lot of artwork that adds up very quickly! I can only imagine the production value behind Conjure. I have no clue if "Conjure" was successful, but what I'm getting at is if they could afford high-quality video production and amazing artwork, why did they need Kickstarter? 

To further support this claim let's take a look at an actual indy game Crusher, a trading card game created by a 10-year-old and this project was successful and could be found on Amazon (in the past, can't find it now). There is something very charming about the home-made quality of the video, the MS Paint Artwork, all of it looks really cheap and done on the fly BUT it looks like a game that if it got a little cash injected into it could actually be something really cool. And THIS my friends, this is what I think Kickstarter should be about, something that is, for the most part, finished, say 90%, and just needs a little cash to get all the way there. Nothing about this project looks like something I couldn't do (or haven't done, at this point) on my own and I was even further along than Crusher in terms of art style and gameplay. Again, no shade just saying that as far as quality goes I surpassed Crusher in every way, but Crusher probably got in on the ground floor of Kickstarter back when it was legitimately about helping indy creators get their projects off the ground instead of industry professionals throwing their dicks around (I'm not bitter or anything...)

Case in point, Rob Thomas, "Veronica Mars" creator used Kickstarter to finance the making of the "Veronica Mars" movie. "Veronica Mars" was a widely successful CW series that enjoy cult acclaim in the same way Joss Whedon's "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" does. Kristen Bell herself appeared on the campaign videos encouraging people to donate. "Veronica Mars" the series was incredibly successful...and the film was distributed by Warner Bros. Why do people who are at the very least making hundreds of thousands of dollars (they ain't flipping burgers) asking people for money? I get wanting the fans to feel like they're apart of something but considering the cult following "Veronica Mars" has and had at the time I'd imagine over the course of 3 seasons, the actors plus the creator would have enough money to pool their resources to get a feature-length film off the ground. Many have done it before and if they were already partnered with Warner Bros., to begin with, going to Kickstarter just seems strange. Kickstarter didn't pay any of the actors, Warner Bros. did, so why Kickstarter? Why go to Kickstarter when you already have a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STUDIO BEHIND YOU?!

Furthermore, consider an upcoming comic book "BRZRKR" which is by Keanu Reeves. Yes, there are other names attached to it, but Keanu Reeves is the name that stands out. I'm no financial expert but I can say with all confidence that Keanu Reeves has MORE than a million dollars lying around and self-publishing a comic book would be small potatoes. Furthermore, finding a publisher for any comic book Keanu Reeves is involved in would be like finding a needle in a needle store, it's Keanu freakin' Reeves! Hell, even CM Punk got to do a few things with comic books for Marvel, Vertigo, well known, big companies, and no one outside of wrestling knows who CM Punk is, EVERYONE knows who Keanu Reeves is. Publishers would be whoring themselves out "Full Metal Jacket" style to print anything Keanu Reeves wants to publish let alone a comic book. Keanu Reeves already has more than enough geek cred from "Bill & Ted", "The Matrix" and now "John Wick". And YET, yet, Keanu Reeves who could finance the whole deal himself is going to Kickstarter...why? Granted, the video quality is nothing to boast of BUT again, you don't need super production quality when Keanu Reeves is talking about a comic book he's selling!

The people involved in this project are Keanu Reeves (a major Hollywood star, not a has-been, a current star), a New York Times Best Seller, and an artist who has previous Comic book industry experience, why are these individuals going to Kickstarter when they could easily publish this thing on their own? Maybe they didn't want to have to go through the whole rigamarole of self-publishing, but again its Keanu Reeves, if you're a publisher and someone who has literally a million dollars wants to publish something under your banner you quietly shut up and take the money, sit back and wonder what you're gonna do with all the money you make from the book finally hits stores, that's what you do. But no, for some reason people who could easily fund this thing are rattling a tin cup in Cyberspace as if they actually needed the help. As it stands, "BRZRKR" has made over a million dollars since launching in September 1st of this year...

Juxtapose this with Corpse Corp. an indy comic book that looks like a group of ragtag creators came together to tell an interesting story. The video quality is standard, not professional, I could do a similar video very easily, nothing about this project informs me that any of the people involved have money to spare, and all of what they're showing me seems completely plausible and within my own ability to do. These the people who need a cash boost to get their comic book made. They have a story, a team, and they just need the money to make it happen, and given what they've done so far on their own I can only imagine how far they'd go if they had more money (much like myself). The creator does a good job at explaining his story and you can he likes his project and damnit, I'm actually interested in this thing. These are the people that NEED Kickstarter! As it stands there is a Kickstarter for the second issue of Corpse Corp. Here's to hoping they get this thing going.

Major well-known rap group De La Soul went to Kickstarter to finance their latest album in March of 2015. De Le Soul is well known and well respected in the hip-hop community and I'm almost certain these guys ain't making burger-flipping money and could possibly afford a recording studio...a vocal booth and maybe a few producers who'd be willing to take time out of their schedule to make a beat or two, or hell, maybe even local producers who are waiting for the chance to have a group like De La Soul purchase a beat from them, ya know, really keep the album indy, feature local artists who aren't already famous, NOPE! Off to Kickstarter to finance an album they could produce themselves. The members themselves are already music producers! What on Earth do they need Kickstarter for? 

Forgive my ignorance on the music industry but unlike Disney, they don't own every bit of music you produce, right? I mean they can't charge you for something you didn't create on your dime, can they? What a recording artist does on their own time is their own time and if they dick around and make music, who's to stop them from releasing it on their own Youtube channel or Soundcloud or whatever? I imagine that they have contracts for this sort of thing, but again, they can't bill you for what they didn't pay for. Maybe De La Soul wanted to circumvent the industry but if they could do that through Kickstarter, why not just avoid Kickstarter and release it themselves with digital downloads as a means of distribution!? They don't need Kickstarter when there are tons of options available to them!

Kickstarter should be about hopefuls who need people to meet them half-way. People who put in as much time effort and energy as they could into whatever project and now they need help to get it to that 100%. People who can applaud their vision and say "Yeah, that's impressive how far they got on their own, let's see how far they make it." and it's of no cost to them since the creator won't see a dime until the goal is reached. These days, Kickstarter is about stretch goals and rewards and tiers. You have to come to Kickstarter with everything done, finished, 100% with no refinements. You have to come with a fully financed project from top to bottom before you see a dime and that defeats the purpose of Kickstarter because creators like myself who can't afford stretch goals are muscled out by people with better finances (who probably don't need Kickstarter and would probably be better off getting investors).

Am I bitter about my failure on Kickstarter, yes and no. Yes, because it showed me exactly what I'm proving in this article and no because I figured it would anyway and had no confidence in Kickstarter anyway. It was a pipe-dream and I'm better off funding the entire thing on my own as I've always been. I contacted Gunship Revolution about how much they charged for artwork, the artwork I envisioned for my project would be similar to "Way Of The Fighter", a card game that also featured Gunship Revolution's artwork. They already had demos to show which featured fully professional artwork and emasculate design that looked ready for shelves. If they could afford Gunship Revolution for demos and promotional material...they don't need Kickstarter in my opinion. But that's just me. Am I embittered or am I completely right in my assessment? Kickstarter is not for the little guy...not anymore...and its sad. Anyway, rant over. I'll catch you guys later.