Dance, Theatre, Music, Art Are Most Successful Kickstarter Projects

The "crowd fundraising" site Kickstarter has just released its site statistics: 25,407 projects have been funded successfully on Kickstarter - and of those, 7,493 were music-related, 6,759 were film and video projects, 2,566 were art, and 1,921 were theater, amounting to almost three-quarters of all successful campaigns and totalling to over $100 million.

Though the average rate of funding for campaigns in the arts hovers around just 45%, the success stories on the site are numerous. Those who have used the site to support their projects include songwriters Kerrigan and Lowdermilk, whose 2010 Kickstarter campaign more than doubled its $10,000 goal and spawned the early 2011 album "Our First Mistake," featuring the talents of Kelli O'Hara, Laura Osnes, Matt Doyle and more. 35MM, from composer-lyricist Ryan Scott Oliver and photographer Matthew Murphy, received a concert and recording this March, and BD Wong's campaign for a HERRINGBONE recording recently surpassed its $35,000 goal.

Shoshana Bean, who appeared on Broadway in WICKED and HAIRSPRAY, has reached her goal to produce a sophomore album, though the Kickstarter campaign will not end until July 16.

About half of all music and dance projects are funded. Film is riskier, with around 37%, and theater and art are slightly more favorable with approximately a 60% success rate in each. Unsuccessful campaigns on Kickstarter do not receive any of the funding; still, even among the 32,313 unfunded projects, 64% are categorized in the arts.

Kickstarter was launched in 2008, powered by "a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands." Since 2008, more than $269 million in total has been pledged to the site.

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