Kickstarter: Behind The Numbers

Kickstarter is one of the better known and more long-lived crowdfunding sites, and if you look inside the numbers that they publicly acknowledge, there's a wealth of information. As with most things in life, information is power. Let's take a look:

• Kickstarter has ad almost 46,000 projects from its inception, which have raised nearly $215 million thanks to almost 3 million backers.

• A full 50% of those projects have been successful, raising the amount amount of money established as a goal. 41% of projects have failed, .1% were suspended, and .1% were cancelled. The rest (8.5%) are currently ongoing.

• It's surprising the types of projects that are most successful:

Dance - 75%,  Theater - 71%,  Music - 68%,  Art - 57%,  Comics - 54%,  Film and Video - 51%,  Food - 51%,  Photography - 47%,  Design - 47%,  Games - 43%,  Publishing - 40%,  Technology - 39%,  Fashion - 33%

• But the most successful categories don't necessarily raise the most money (in millions):

Film & Video - $55,  Music - $33,  Design - $40,  Games - $23,  Art - $9.4,  Publishing - $9.3,  Technology - $9.0,  Theater - $6.8,  Food - $6.1,  Comics - $4.8,  Photography - $3.2,  Fashion - $2.3,  Dance - $1.8

• The average duration of a successful campaign is 38 days, but it's 43 days for the average failed project.

• Lower is better when it comes to monetary goals, as the average successful project raised $5,487 while the average failed project's goal was $16,365.

• Finally, 8.5% of funded projects received more than double their goal.

As you can see, crowdfunding is competitive, but if you have the right product, the right sales goal, and right sales pitch, the odds are good about even that you'll succeed. That's a lot better than most chances you'll ever take in the music business.

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