"Crowdfunding for digital files -- why??" Topic

I've voiced this on several threads, but I don't understand why companies announce Kickstarters/Indiegogo/etc. campaigns for digital files which are often already created and ready for sale.

Maybe I have misunderstood the nature of crowdfunding campaigns. I thought the purpose of crowdfunding was to raise money that would allow the campaigner to procure technology and materials, hire talent, advertise, and so on to bring an idea to fruition as an actual product.

But I keep seeing ads for digital terrain files or PDFs that are being crowdfunded, and it always seems that they are already finished products (usually because of all the beautiful renders or previews they post!). If that's the case, then the crowdfunding effort would seem to be merely an attempt at mass-marketing, not at fundraising in order to get a product across the finish line.

I don't think there are any specific rules on the KS or IGG sites about not using them as purely marketing tools, but it does seem to me to be inconsistent with the spirit of crowdfunding.

Am I just being too obtuse about this?

They might have had to pay for pictures, for formting for tech whatever and need the cash to be sure. Not to lose on an uncertain venture. Sort of moneyed marketing. ?
Nothing cost zero.

They may have some but not all of it done, but the question is a good one.

KS/IGG perform several functions, not just assembling capital. It's a publicity machine, it's also a pre-order system. If someone is using it mostly for the second or third function instead of the first, does that matter? KS still gets their cut. The customer has greater assurance that they'll actually get their product.

Also, stretch goals – say they've finished some form of the product, they'd like to expand it, but that's going to cost money and will there be sales to pay for it? KS lets them gauge this ahead of time.

I think I agree that it *feels* like it somehow violates the "spirit of crowdfunding" when an established outfit uses KS for a product that is, at least in some sense, finished, but I've always dismissed this feeling because…

A) Is there a "spirit of crowdfunding"? That can be violated? Two separate, non-trivial questions. I think crowdfunding is an opportunity, KS/IGG/etc create that possibility, but they create other possibilities as well and that's not bad. If someone is only using KS as a preorder system then they're doing that in the same space as crowdfunding, but they're not violating anything, I don't think.

And B) this isn't hurting anyone. In fact, it probably helps.

Even established companies have limited capital, and by getting customers to pay earlier they essentially have more capital to work with, and thus can pursue more projects. Projects that, necessarily, are of interest to the subscribers. So I'm pretty sure we the consumers get more products of interest to us, and hopefully their are fewer failures.

So "inconsistent" might be too strong a word.

They could also be trying to raise money for other projects as well.

Maybe offering 3D files to start with, then using the money to buy equipment and materials to eventually offer resin or metal castings of the models.

This could be for new projects, or to offer the old projects to people that don't (or can't) print them out themselves.

Also, by raising funds for this project they can also use those funds so they can focus on a future project, rather than having to spend their time working on commissions or a "regular" job.

I recently tossed a Loonie in the pot for this one so I could add comments: link

They had some of the designs done to launch this project. Pledge options also included printed versions, which is what I would have gone for if I backed fully. Level of success would generate more designs. (I didn't want any of 1/56 fighter planes, but if the add-ons, or future projects, ever include spy planes, I'll be in for a Westland Lysander, Storch, and/or Grasshopper which would be great to have parked on the table for a bunch of different scenarios.

Kickstarter started as a way to gauge interest and raise funds to create a project, but it has evolved into a pre-order service and the most successful campaigns have at the minimum fully completed prototypes to a professional standard that were seeded out to key influencers and demonstrated at cons at least a year before the Kickstarter campaign is launched. It became this way because users came to expect it and voted with their wallets.

I am still waiting for fulfillment of a KS I joined in 2016.

You don't understand because you think there's a way KS should be run and you're wrong. KS isn't your site, it's their site, and they can set the rules any way they want so long as backers keep backing. Of course, they're not going to outright deny any "feelgood" image they've cultivated, but I figure they're hiding plenty in the fine print.

If backers don't believe that a .stl project should be funded, it won't fund.

they are already finished products (usually because of all the beautiful renders or previews they post!).

Renders are pretty pictures. They are not real. A good stl KS/IGG will be test printing. That takes spools of filament (and time). I seem to remember one guy farming out his printing to get two or three different models of printer (he may have used it to buy another printer too). As mentioned above they may be working on the stretch goals, some even still working on the later add-ons.

There are several good reason to do a Kickstarter to actually fincance a project.
The first is to gauge interest in a specific project, and NOT do it until the interest is there. See eg. our "tracks" project: link
Insufficient interest, no tracks…

The problem is that most people only buy what they can see (or at least imagine), so that campaigns presenting raw ideas rarely get the funding they need.

Another good reason is to buy yourself the necessary tools to actually realize the project. In the case of digital files this would be software licenses. Professional tools like Allplan or Autocad can be quite expensive.

Because that's what customers expect these days. Especially in the wargames/board games industry Kickstarter has become a pre-order system in the eyes of the customer and the manufacturer. You can say all you want about how it's not, but it certainly is perceived that way.