MBM422 - SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Crowdfunding. Case of Amanda Palmers project on

Kickstarter

April 27th, 2015

Word Count: 5788
Candidate numbers: 10, 33, 34

Abstract
This paper is written in order to further explore the crowdfunding phenomenon and
understand the key elements for backers to participate in it. The aim of this term paper is to
analyse the different motives that bring people to fund an artist through crowdfunding
platforms. Also, the critics and reasons to not invest in crowdfunding projects are studied.
Kickstarter and more precisely the Amanda Palmers music project have been our grounds for
thought. The research is done using a netnographic approach according to Kozinets book. It
was found that the main motivations to fund are supporting the cause and be part of a
community. The identified motivations not to fund are personal animosity, rejection of the
cause and rejection of crowdfunding principles.
The paper first explains the reasons for studying the phenomenon and choosing the
case. Then, a theoretical part explains the concepts that are further broached in the core text.
The focus is made on crowdfunding aspects, but also community drivers and social
movements. In the method chapter, we describe the methodological approach and
framework for the online community analysis. Then, the analysis of the data is presented.
Eventually, the paper presents discussion of the findings and draws conclusions about the
backer motivations and what a creator could do to reach more efficiently the community and
make it overfund.

Keywords: crowdfunding, Amanda Palmer, community, motivation to fund

Table of contents
1.

Introduction .............................................................................................................. 4

2. Theory ........................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Crowdfunding ......................................................................................................... 4
2.2 Communities ........................................................................................................... 5
2.2.1 Participation in online communities ................................................................ 5
2.2.2 Trust and brand authenticity ............................................................................ 6
2.2.3 Participation in crowdfunding campaigns ....................................................... 6
2.2.4 Diffusion of responsibility and deadline effect ................................................ 7
2.3 Social movements ................................................................................................... 7
3. Method .......................................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Overview and research questions ........................................................................... 8
3.2 Choice of a crowdfunding platform ........................................................................ 8
3.3 Methodological approach through Netnography .................................................... 8
3.4 Data collection and analysis ................................................................................... 9
3.5 Ethical issues and considerations ............................................................................ 9
4. Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 10
4.1 Key elements of community ................................................................................. 10
4.2 Different motives to fund an artistic project ......................................................... 11
4.3.1. Be part of a community ................................................................................ 11
4.3.2 Support the cause, being against established music industry ........................ 12
4.3.3 Support creators ............................................................................................. 13
4.3.4 Get a reward ................................................................................................... 14
4.4 The deadline effect and diffusion of responsibility .............................................. 15
4.5 Criticism reasons................................................................................................... 16
4.5.1 Personal animosity ......................................................................................... 16
4.5.2 Rejection of the cause .................................................................................... 17
4.5.3 Rejection of crowdfunding principles............................................................ 18
5. Discussion ................................................................................................................... 18
5.1 Theoretical implications ....................................................................................... 19
5.2 Managerial implications ....................................................................................... 20
6. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 20
7. References ................................................................................................................... 21
Appendix ......................................................................................................................... 23
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1. Introduction
Crowdfunding means raising money from many people to fund a project. It is means to
connect people having interesting ideas with those wanting to support them. It enables passing
through barriers imposed by the traditional financial institutions.
We chose the case of Amanda Palmers Kickstarter project, who turned towards
crowdfunding and achieved enormous success. With $1.2 million of $100 000 requested,
Palmer had a great impact on the platform and people funding such artists. With a relatively
small initial fanbase (previous album sold in 36 000 copies), she succeeded in building a
strong devoted community on Kickstarter, eager to fund her.
Because of the overwhelming success of the campaign, the reasons of individuals to fund are
of special interest. Therefore, the research question of the paper is What drives people to
fund an artist on a crowdfunding platform? What are the reasons not to fund her? . To
answer the questions, the paper focuses on analyzing the online community created on
Kickstarter, and gives some insight into the environment outside Kickstarter. The topic is
relevant from theoretical and business perspectives, as there are relatively few researches on
the topic, while crowdfunding is becoming increasingly more common.

Therefore,

understanding the motivation factors could lead to more efficient creator-funder relationship.

2. Theory
Several theoretical concepts are crucial for analysis. Those will be used in the paper to
analyze and answer research questions based on the case.
2.1 Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding involves an open call, mostly through the Internet, for the provision of
financial resources either in the form of donation or in exchange for the future product or
some form of reward to support initiatives for specific purposes (Belleflamme et al., 2014, p.
588). Campaigns range significantly in goals, amount of money needed to raise, funding
principle, feedback form. Mollick (2014) distinguishes four types of crowdfunding depending
on relationship between creator and backer and the type of feedback the backer receives:
donation-based, reward-based, lending, and equity crowdfunding. In donation-based
crowdfunding, funders are not expecting any monetary return, and care for other factors.
Lending model assumes contributors lend money expecting return on the investment. Equity
crowdfunding views funders as investors and provides them with equity stakes as an interest.
The mechanism of the most popular crowdfunding platforms (Palmers campaign was based

on one of them) uses the reward-based system, and assumes that the reward is a tangible
product or specific experience (Gerber et. al, 2012).
2.2 Communities
Lawton and Marom (2012) state that crowdfunding platforms became a specific form of
social networking, where participants form online social communities. Kraut and Resnick
(2011) define online communities as virtual space where people come together with others
to converse, exchange information or other resources, learn, play, or just be with each other
(p. 1). Communities share 3 common features: consciousness of kind, rituals and traditions,
moral responsibility (Muniz & OGuinn, 2001).
Consciousness of kind is a feeling of belonging a member has towards the community.
Members feel connected not only to the central figure, but also to one another. That is a
feeling of being unified with the community and being divided from others. Even though the
members of the community could have never met, they share some values and interests that
unite them to some extent.
Rituals and traditions are the repeated, common actions that members of the community
perform in the appropriate situations. Performing the rituals and traditions validates the
feeling of belonging to the community and strengthens the community culture.
Moral responsibility is a driver of collective action. It is a sense of duty to the whole
community and to its individual members.
2.2.1 Participation in online communities
Kozinets (2010) suggests classifying participation in online communities depending on
combination of the strength of communal ties and centrality of consumption activity.
Participants with weak communal ties and low centrality of consumption activity are lurkers,
characterized by initial observational behavior. They could transform into newbies learning
observers lacking the abilities and skills and having superficial interest in the central topic.
Interactors are engaged in another community, connected to the community in case, and are
reaching that community. Interactors have high centrality of consumption activity and
enthusiasm for the central cause, but have weak communal ties. Networkers have strong
communal ties with the community, but are low on centrality. Those are the members of other
communities interested in building social ties with the members of the community. The
networkers interest to the community is based on some members social ties. Makers are
devoted builders of the communities, high on both parameters. They are central to the
community, and can even create their own communities.
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Relationships in the communities vary depending on how intense the communal relationships
are and how strong the consumption is. Cruising communities are characterized by low
centrality of the activity and weak relational ties. Bonding communities unite people having
strong ties, but not focused on central activity. Geeking communities are high on centrality of
activity, but the social part is not central for those. Finally, building communities have both
high centrality of the activity and sense of community.
2.2.2 Trust and brand authenticity
Trust is a particular level of the subjective probability with which an agent assesses that
another agent or group of agents will perform a particular action, both before he can monitor
such action (or independently of his capacity ever to be able to monitor it) and in a context in
which it affects his own action (Gambetta, 2000, p. 217). Cooperation depends on the trust
level between agents, and is influenced by the potential negative loss if refraining from the
cooperation (Gambetta, 2000). To be perceived as trustworthy and worthy of acceptance, the
brand should be perceived as authentic (Cappannelli & Cappannelli, 2004). By being
authentic, the brand devotes itself to the timeless values rather than being driven by
commercial motives (Beverland, 2005), and therefore becomes more appealing to customers.
2.2.3 Participation in crowdfunding campaigns
Kraut and Resnick (2011) define motivation as a function of expectancy and value, where
expectancy is the belief about the probability that action will lead to the outcome (p. 23)
and value as the value of the outcome or satisfaction they will receive if they achieve the
outcome (p. 23). The motives of the behavior could be both intrinsic (action as a goal) and
extrinsic (action is a way to achieve some outcome). Having intrinsic motivation, people
enjoy dealing with a task regardless the reward (Fller, 2006) and contributing their creativity
to produce by themselves (Firat & Venkatesh, 1995). Enjoying the activity, they might get
absorbed enough to lose sense of time (Csikszentmihalyi 2002).
Gerber et al. (2012) suggest that the underlying motivation for funding is the interpersonal tie
between the parts of the exchange. They argue that creators are motivated to start campaigns
to raise funds, receive validation, connect with others, replicate successful experiences of
others, and expand awareness of work through social media. Backers are funding to get
rewards, support creators and causes, and strengthen connections with people in their social
networks.
Rewards used on the crowdfunding sites are often in the form of a symbolic token of
appreciation or pre-order of the funded product (Kuppuswamy & Bayus, 2013). In case of a
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pre-order, it is important that the product has exclusive characteristics connecting it to the
crowdfunding campaign. Knowledge of getting reward in the future leads to the decrease of
perceived risk, which makes the process of making decision to fund easier.
Funding to support creators and causes is usually done because of the funders consistency
with the idea of the project or an effort and motivation behind creating the project. Also, this
reason covers the support given to friends, family or other people funders know.
Finally, people fund the projects, because they feel as a part of the community, and they
follow the rituals and traditions common for their online community.
2.2.4 Diffusion of responsibility and deadline effect
Studying the backers behavior, Kuppuswamy and Bayus (2013) discovered the reverse
relationship between the past support of the project and further support from members. They
link the phenomena to the diffusion of responsibility effects. After initial excitement the
support rate fades, as people assume other backers will give enough to fund the project. The
perception of responsibility is also influenced by the deadline effect. On the early stages of
the project potential backers feel money will come from others, as there is much time left.
With the deadline approaching, feeling of personal responsibility rises, as they see the needed
money might not actually be provided.
2.3 Social movements
Social movements are networks of informal interaction between a plurality of individuals,
groups and/or organizations, engaged in aconflict on the basis of a shared collective
identity (Diani 1992, p. 13). This definition embraces several aspects: common behavior and
identity from actors, either individual or organizations; the relationship linking social
movement activists and organizations; a common feeling of solidarity and mutual
identification (Diani, 2000). Internet has been convenient for social movements, as it removes
distances, reduces costs to reach people and makes it possible to build strong and powerful
networks. Another dimension of social movements is the difference between low and high
thresholds. Collective actions can be ranked in accordance with degree of risk and
commitment they bring into play. Based on the definition and theory, crowdfunding belongs
to Internet-based actions with low thresholds, as the risk level and commitment are quite low.
However, it is excessive to affirm that crowdfunding platforms are a social movement of its
own, rather crowdfunding contributes as a platform for social movements.
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3. Method
3.1 Overview and research questions

In this chapter we present methodological approach we used. The research design follows a
plan that leads from the initial hypothesis to the set of findings answering these questions.
Our topic deals with the crowdfunding platforms. We find it would be interesting to get a
deeper understanding of this phenomenon and more precisely understand the motives driving
people to invest money in crowdfunding project. Passionate about art and music, we decided
to focus on an art project. We chose to look closer upon questions: What drives people to fund
an artist on a crowdfunding platform? What are the reasons not to fund her?
3.2 Choice of a crowdfunding platform
After looking for different crowdfunding projects, we settled upon Palmer. Our choice was
based on Kozinets criteria (2010), according to which online communities should fulfill
several conditions:

relevant for research focus,

active, with recent and regular traffic

interactive, there is a flow of communications between members

substantial, with huge amount of messages and posts

heterogeneous, with a large number of discrete message posters

data-rich, with a lot of detailed and interesting data

The community of funders of Amanda Palmers project meets most of these criteria. Project
was successful and gathered 10 times more than requested, therefore it is relevant. More than
24.000 backers were involved in her project, generating more than 1300 comments and also
commenting Palmers updates. The comments were written throughout all campaign, which
lasted for 32 days, with some written after the end. We chose to concentrate on the
crowdfunding project page rather than Facebook or Twitter accounts despite the more detailed
and more recent data we could have found on to ensure the analyzed community doesnt
dilute.
3.3 Methodological approach through Netnography
To conduct research and analyze the findings, the Netnographic approach is followed.
Netnography consists of detailed participant-observational research based in online
fieldwork (Kozinets, 2010, p 60).
Analysis is based on observations and data collection from online platforms only, consistent
with Kozinets (2010) methods. First, we had to plan the research and define questions and
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research hypothesis. Then we had to enter the community to understand its culture and
customs. Afterwards, we began to collect data that could be relevant for our topic. Next, we
have gone into data analysis and interpretation while remaining ethical with respect to privacy
protection. Finally, we are presenting findings that confirm or disconfirm our previous
hypothesis.
3.4 Data collection and analysis
We began by creating an account on Kickstarter, but it was not useful because Palmers
project had already ended. Despite recommendations of Kozinets to enter a community to
analyze and understand it correctly, we did not participate in the conversation flow, mainly
because the project had been in effect for one month in May 2012. The conversation flow is
no longer active because the project raised enough money within the allocated time, therefore
we cannot participate actively in community. Thus, we collected only archiving posting from
backers and Palmer. By doing this, we adopt an observational netnography point of view
(Beaven and Laws, 2007). We firstly copied the most relevant posts within the funding period
among more than 1300 comments. We focused on the longest or/and emotional posts that are
more detailed and precise, and preferably express the reasons driven commenters to fund.
After collecting posts that seem to be relevant for our research question, we proceeded in
analysis in accordance with Kozinets netnography of coding, noting, abstracting and
comparing, checking and refinement, generalizing and theorizing (Kozinets, 2010). We
copied posts to an Excel document, analyzed them related to research question and linked
with theory.
3.5 Ethical issues and considerations
Kozinets underlines that researchers should always conduct ethical studies and follow four
guidelines (Kozinets, 2010, p.140):
1. Inform online community members that you conduct research on
2. Ask for permissions when necessary
3. Gain consent from members
4. Quote and credit members properly
As we do not comment and post in the conversation flow, we decided not to identify
ourselves and inform members about our research. Even though all postings are available
online and people often choose avatar and pseudonyms, we make the comments anonymous
to protect member identities. There is no real link between the names and the focus of our
research. As people use avatar, it is difficult to gain consent. Thus, if we uncover potentially
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harmful or embarrassing information, we hide the embarrassing part of the post or do not use
this comment.

4. Analysis
4.1 Key elements of community
To find the motivational drivers of backing, we started by looking at Palmers Kickstarter
video, first thing potential backers see, to analyze audiences perception and response. We
verified the correspondence of the audience to special community, and analyzed its culture in
line with the features of communities.
In the video, Palmer complains on unfairness of music industry and encourages people to
fund the project independently. She appeals to people with similar opinion about music
industry, stressing the importance of belonging of each person to the project by frequently
using word we. She invites them to create value together as partners, united by the
campaign, thus creating a triad connection Palmerpeoplepeople (Owyang et al., 2013)
The content of comments identifies that the community is centered on the campaign, as all
mention Palmer or the campaign. It is a geeking community. Broadly geographically
distributed backers engage in communication, however, direct communication is limited.
Having high centrality of activity, they are moderate on communal ties, as they express
satisfaction of being a part of the campaign together, with majority of the messages
mentioning Palmer rather than others. In total, 24 883 people generated 1 360 comments, with
some people writing more than once.

This yields in approximately 94% of not

communicative backers.
The community holds crucial characteristics of communities: consciousness of a kind,
presence of rituals and traditions, and moral responsibility. The comment below could serve
as example.

This person and others feel proud of being backers. Here, she makes a distinction between the
backer community and other people not only mentally - while other people wonder, but also
physically - t-shirt as a symbol to identify group belonging. On the bigger scale, the
consciousness of a kind and distinction from others is based on the opposition to big corporate
labels to create new way of making music, which is also present in the video.
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Fix phrases in this quote are commonly used in other comments (Appendix,#3, 4) and the
video. Those are community rituals and traditions, enhancing community experience.
Community jargon (AFP, GPO) could not be understood by people outside the
community, but do not require additional explanation for members. Rebellious and
oppositional direction of the community is revealed through jargon phrases like we are
themedia.
Moral responsibility is based on achieving the campaign goal and personal responsibility
people have for the project success. The video stresses the importance of every individual in
the case and enhances the feeling of moral responsibility. The commenter emphasizes she
backed her when she was only 22% funded, showing personal relevance of this for her. In
other comments (Appendix, #3, 8, 9), people commonly and frequently use wording like we
are, we do, we get there to express the feeling of belonging, personal involvement and
contribution.
4.2 Different motives to fund an artistic project
Through quote analysis, we found that backers have different motives to fund an art
crowdfunding project. In line with reasons by Gerber et al. (2012), we checked the relevance
of the motives in the case. We pointed out four drivers explaining why people support
creators of art projects through crowdfunding platforms: to be part of a community (1), to
support a cause important to them (2), to support creator (3) and to get a reward (4).
4.3.1. Be part of a community
Among the posts analyzed, one third directly expresses joy of belonging, relying on each
other and acting together as a part of something bigger than them. People desire being
involved in a community and share its values and customs.

Through community, people express feelings and find salvation and strength. Originally
feeling lonely and isolated, through the community commenter connects with 24.516
friends, united by the shared feeling of love. Palmer herself is also perceived as a part of
the friend circle, empowering and uniting the total friendship under her project (Owyang et
al., 2013). Feeling of belonging (part of something big and important ), connection and
identification with fellow backers increases persons feeling of being useful, involved, self11

confident and understood. In the community the backer finds what he misses in life: love,
happiness (2times) and friends.
Feeling moral responsibility, backers encourage others to participate in the project more
actively together (Appendix, #10) to reach the common goal, thus strengthening the
consciousness of kind and making the community more dynamic. They seek for extending the
community beyond Internet, increasing involvement and strengthening relationships by
suggesting uniting for the house parties and meeting before concerts (Appendix, #10, 12).
Backers mention they are won over by being the part of the campaign (Appendix, #2, 6),
that they lose sense of time (Csikszentmihalyi, 2002). That is another example of underlying
intrinsic motivation for being part of the community and funding. Becoming captivated by
activity, they stay for the joy and excitement of being a part of the creative process.
Contributing to creation together with others, they consider it rewarding (Fller, 2006).
Even though oppositional in origin, through comments the community reveals to be positive
and friendly. It attracts potential backers, promising to give joy and happiness they were
missing through being involved and building ties with other backers.
4.3.2 Support the cause, being against established music industry
Theres a shift towards empowering consumers, buying from each other rather than through
traditional institutions (Owyang et al., 2013). The cause pursued by Palmers campaign is
fighting big music labels in the desire to create the future of music, which is consistent with
the collaborative economy trend. Gathering their resources under the campaign, they form a
kind of oppositional social movement.

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The attention on the picture is on the paper, which the girl has in front of her, due to the light
contrast between background and foreground. The point of focus is on intersection lines
(Rowse, n.d.), where the banknote drawing is. The smiley on the banknote causes positive
emotion, even though the phrase written evokes pity. Phrase near smiley is community jargon,
expressing the girls belonging to the community and her attitude to the consumer power. The
aim is to express support to the project, even though the person cannot afford it. Addressing
the picture to Palmer, she expresses desire to give money directly to the person producing,
and to avoid the control of middleman industry. Backers adore that the non-transparent costs
of music industry are avoided (Appendix, #3), and criticize the industry fiercely (Appendix,
#4, 7) by calling them swear words. The opposition is strengthened by the usual community
jargon words like we are the media, this is the future of music as well as less common
AFP army (Appendix, #3). Calling themselves an army, they see Palmer as a fighter leading
the movement through the campaign to the common goal. Therefore, they are led by the
extrinsic motivation, seeing the project as a mean to an end.
4.3.3 Support creators
Palmer has succeeded in building community before launching the project. Many funders
supported the project because she was the creator. Some comments are very Palmer-centric,
mentioning only feelings to her and her music. Frequently repeating and capitalizing word
love and you (Appendix, #5) in positive context, usually about Palmers actions, they
show their attitude and broad awareness of her life. They reveal that her personality and music
are the key factor of campaign.

People show deep connection to her and emotionally explain the importance of this
relationship to them (Appendix, #13). They seek to strengthen the relational ties with Palmer
by contributing to the project, perceiving it as a way to hang out with her. They engage in
the activity, because they prefer having a handinstead of hearing about, and feel closer to
her this way. Calling her by first name, they also seek decreasing the distance between them
and Palmer. The desire to become closer is also visible through the personal character of
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comment, as she shares personal subjects such as budget (dont have thousands). This
behavior shows trust for the artist, which is also visible in other comments explaining
financial conditions (Appendix, #1,11) and through using words like genuinely, honestly
(Appendix, #5). They are delighted by Palmer (fantastic, amazing), and find inspiration
in her (YOU are an inspiration - Appendix, #5). Perceiving her as authentic and sharing her
values, they have positive attitude and desire to fund her.
4.3.4 Get a reward
For some backers, campaign rewards are the focus. Here, we are talking about particular
compensatory rewards offered for funding rather than the perception of crowdfunding
experience as rewarding. Generally, rewards were in form of a physical object or Palmerconnected experience. For those wanting a physical reward, the reward quality is essential.

Downloading music for this commenter is not enough, it does not represent a real value. He
strongly links the amount of money pledged and the quality of outcome he will get, as he is
giving money directly to Palmer. The level of expectation is represented by word A-MAZING, capitalized to emphasize. He perceives the relationship as communal exchange, and
does not blindly trust Palmer. He expresses concerns about the pledge level the project has
achieved, and feels he might be dissatisfied. The commenter seems to be detached from the
community. He does not mention the goal, Palmer or community, does not share its culture
and rituals. Active members of the community are also interested in rewards, but only as a
supplement (Appendix, #1,2).
Experiential rewards are more relevant for community members interested in central activity,
as they are related to Palmer. The motivation then becomes complimented by more reasons
than only rewards.

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The person expresses his involvement and engagement through emotional words (blown
away) and through following the numbers. He is motivated by being part of the creative
process itself, and, using community jargon words, encourages backers to unite and reach the
common goal. Thus, he appeals to members feeling of moral responsibility. However, he
stresses that rewards are crucial for him. Even though the fact of backing in general might not
be primarily led by the reward, the amount pledged is influenced by that. In order to get a
desired reward, he is being self-sacrificial (going on his own). However, both monetary and
emotional efforts (nervous) seem smaller than personal benefit, thus resulting in rewarding
outcome (Fller, 2006).
4.4 The deadline effect and diffusion of responsibility

Figure 1 Backers Per Day (Daily Data. Backers Per Day, 2012)

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Through the comments we monitor different backer dynamics over the time. According to
comments, first funders are mostly people close to Palmer. Then they are extended by new
people, attracted to the project through word-of-mouth, visibility on Kickstarter, and other
sources. For the active community members, the question of funding is not affected by others
behavior, however, sums were increasing when they questioned if they would fund enough in
time (Appendix, #12). Less involved needed some initial funded level to engage. The original
goal was pledged in one day, and then perceived by community as an opportunity to launch
new goals for the project. Most people backed in the beginning and in the end of campaign.
Commenters were more active in commenting and updating pledges by the end, illustrating
the deadline effect. The deadline enhanced moral responsibility and encouraged the
community to seek for funding more actively, including reaching to people outside
community.
4.5 Criticism reasons
Since there are no negative comments on the projects page on Kickstarter, the comments
were collected from the side source an article discussing the controversy of Palmers project
(Ronson, 2013), which caused a rich discussion (288 comments) in comment section. The
commenters there did not fund the project, express mostly negative emotions about the case,
and, in total, do not overlap with the commenters on Kickstarter. Through the comment
analysis, we identified three main reasons, partly opposite in nature to the motivations to fund
the members of the Kickstarter community have. The factors influencing not funding are:
personal animosity (1), rejection of the cause (2) and rejection of crowdfunding principles(3).
4.5.1 Personal animosity
This motivation is represented by hostility from the commenters. Throughout the quotes, we
found evidence of opposition to the person itself, caused by lack of trust for the personality or
actions.

The message aims to express negativity towards Palmer because of lack of trust. This is
visible through the outline of the comment, starting with stating shes fake, then explaining
16

why he says that, and summarizing by stressing insincerity. Here arises the problem of
authenticity perception, which affects trust and consequently the desire to engage in funding
(Gambetta, 2000). The person knows how Palmer is positioning herself, and shows enough
interest to get familiar with details of the campaign (play for free, gig at a fans house $5,000), but for him there is a gap between the desired and real image. He doesnt express
much negativity towards the personality, but it is of more importance for him to see how the
money is spent. He doesnt see the logic of the rewards offered in the campaign, contrasts the
request and outcome (play for free against Ritz), and forms strongly unfavorable attitude,
even though originally he was not opposing her. This is also relevant for other posters
(Appendix, #15), who negatively assess the correlation between the money being collected
and the actions (gathered 1.2 million from fans, cannot insist shes a niche outsider
artist). However, the distrust is deeper for this person: it is not limited to campaign, but
extends to personality. He also engages into contrasting, extensively and thoroughly
comparing facts of Palmers life to the image shes trying to make. He concludes by saying
that she is a bigger commodity than the struggling artist she made herself out to be,
meaning that there is maximum level of distrust.
Another case present is animosity not linked to trust, but caused by personality opposition
(Appendix, #14). In the comment person does not go deep into explaining why he opposes
Palmer, but compares her to the internet symbol of absurdness. The issue is not authenticity of
Palmer, but the conflict between persons values and values her image is built on.
4.5.2 Rejection of the cause
Comments reveal that there exists disapproval of the desire to avoid big corporations through
alternative sources (campaign cause).

Here, commenter accuses Palmer of being careless and lacking long-term view (without
wondering how...) suggesting the new funding approach. He is concerned about the state of
art in current trends (chaos of something for nothing), criticizes promotion of new music
standards, and is afraid of campaign outcome harming art further. He fears trustafarian
partners of millionaire would commonly overuse their fans trust (blagging 1,2m) and
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endanger other artists survival. Therefore, for people like him (Appendix, #15) only the
support of beginners through crowdfunding is justified, while making this way of funding
common is inadmissible.
4.5.3 Rejection of crowdfunding principles
Due to newness of crowdfunding broad prevalence, crowdfunding concept could be perceived
as a form of innovation, thus requiring time for the late majority of adopters to accept it
(Rogers, 1983).

Through the composition of his comment (question-answer), we see the commenter is

rationalistic, self-assured and conservative. Preferring to keep control, he doesnt trust in
peoples support (bunch of strangers), and praises traditional ways of funding, seeing
crowdfunding as begging (asking for handouts). Therefore, participating in crowdfunding is
seen as wrong behavior.

Others see gratuitous funding as unethical, but can accept the crowdfunding giving return to
funders (ethicalto crowd-lend). Lending-based or equity-based crowdfunding are
perceived as being closer to traditional forms of funding, thus accepted easier by adopters.
The comment also reveals lack of interest in crowdfunding, as its type is mistaken (crowdgive instead of reward-based), which leads to wrong perceptions and affects behavior.

5. Discussion
The quote analysis has led to some unexpected findings. It was discovered that there is a
community formed around the campaign, where people feel consciousness of kind, share
rituals and traditions and have moral responsibility. Due to the characteristics of the artist, the
four motivation factors revealed to be interconnected, with funders showing signs of more
than one motivation factors affecting their behavior. Palmer is an alternative artist, with her
18

brand representing opposition to big music labels and mainstream culture. Therefore, funding
due to will to support the artist is related to finding due to will to support a cause, which
is to provide an alternative to funding through big music labels. The community of funders
shares the oppositional attitude, which relates this reason to support the cause. The rewards
in the campaign are related to the artist, as they most valuable for Palmers appreciators. The
overarching motivation in this case turned out to be supporting the cause and being a part of
community, even though we originally expected rewards to be more important. We attribute
this to the project being an oppositional social movement. The project was not limited to
promoting Palmers music, but represented the fight with commercial institutions, also
outside music industry. Therefore, having broader aim, it was able to gather larger supporter
community.
However, it was discovered that being a part of a social movement could be an obstacle, as
some people dont accept the idea. Therefore, they are unwilling to fund and dont perceive
the community as appealing. The personality of the creator turned out to be an obstacle in
some cases, meaning that negative attitude could be transferred to the project. This reason is
highly related to consistency of personality and participating in crowdfunding campaign, the
lack of which leads to mistrust and negatively affects the outcome. Also, some people
revealed to be uninterested in participating in crowdfunding in general, therefore not showing
much interest to particular campaigns.
Due to highly involved community, the deadline effect and diffusion of responsibility were
modified. The deadline effect was not relevant for the initial funding goal, but was present for
the artificial goals. It boosted backers behavior, making them more active in reaching the
goal. The diffusion of responsibility was partly in place, as the funding itself was not
questionable for commenters. The amount to pledge was, and it was increased by a lot of
funders when the deadline was approaching.
5.1 Theoretical implications
The analyzed community possessed the elements of online community, described by Muniz &
OGuinn (2001). The analysis of the motivation was built in line with Gerber et al. (2012),
with us categorizing findings according to the stated motivations. Evidence was found for all
4 mentioned motivations, and some motivations revealed to be broad in meaning, and
included more than one definition. The correlation between authenticity and trust was in
agreement with theory, as well as to some extent were the deadline effect and diffusion of
responsibility.

19

5.2 Managerial implications

We believe that discovered prevailing motivation (supporting the cause) would be less
relevant for other crowdfunding (music and other) campaigns, as the majority of projects
would not hold the social movement element. However, socially relevant underlying reason
attracts more people, so creators should consider this when launching projects. Creators
should monitor the current social trends to ensure project fit. Particularly art projects illustrate
peoples desire to connect to artists directly, avoiding the music corporations, which makes
funding through crowdfunding more appealing to people. The creation of a community
around the campaign is easier to implement than social element, as anything could be the
central activity. However, people might be reluctant to participate if the activity is
controversial. To support the community, the creator should connect with it, starting by
addressing the audience correctly and following by being present in discussion and giving
updates.

6. Conclusion
The paper gives insight into the reasons of funders behavior, with desire to be a part of
community and to support the campaign cause being the prevailing motives. The creator was
an active participant of the campaign, turning the campaign into a social movement while
building and maintaining relationship with funders. This approach appeared to be highly
efficient in turns of reaching the campaign goals. We believe that crowdfunding is on the rise,
and that its functions are rapidly expanding from being just a source of money. Therefore, its
underlying mechanisms should be considered when starting campaigns.
The paper contains some limitations. Studying motivation for funding, we used the comment
section, with the amount of people commenting being significantly smaller than people
funding. We assume, but cannot guarantee posts representativeness. Also, it cannot be
guaranteed that individuals expressed all of the emotions in the comments and that there is no
mismatch between the purpose of the messages and interpretation.
Future research could analyze the resemblance of social movement campaigns from different
categories (music, technology, literature) in order to identify the common motivation factors.
Due to uniqueness of communities, the factors could change substantially, affected by
community features.

20

7. References
Amanda Palmer: The new RECORD, ART BOOK, and TOUR. (2012). Retrieved March 13,
2015, from https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-thenew-record-art-book-and-tour
Beaven, Z., & Laws, C. (2007). Never let me down again: Loyal customer attitudes towards
ticket distribution channels for live music events: A netnographic exploration of the US
leg of the Depeche Mode 20052006 World Tour. Managing Leisure, 12(2/3), 120
142
Belleflamme, P., Lambert, T., & Schwienbacher, A. (2014). Crowdfunding: Tapping the right
crowd. Journal of Business Venturing, (29), 585-609.
Beverland, M. (2005). Brand management and the challenge of authenticity. Journal of
Product and Brand Management, 14(7), 460-461.
Cappannelli, G., & Cappannelli, S. (2004). Authenticity: Simple Strategies for Greater
Meaning and Purpose at Work and at Home. Ohio: Emmis Books.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2002), Creativity: flow and the psychology of discovery and invention
(1 ed.). New York, NY: HarperPerennial.
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https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-the-new-record-artbook-and-tour/#chart-daily
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Communication & Society, 3(3), 386-401.
Firat, A. F.,Venkatesh, A. (1995). Liberatory Postmodernism and the Reenchantment of
Consumptions. Journal of Consumer Research. (22), 239-67.
Fuller, J. (2006). Why Consumers Engage in Virtual New Product Developments Initiated by
Producers. Advances in Consumer Research. (33), 639-646.
Gambetta, D. (2000). Can We Trust Trust. D. Gambetta, Trust: Making and Breaking
Cooperative Relations (p. 213-237). Department of Sociology, University of Oxford.
Gerber, E., J. Hui, & P. Kuo (2012). Crowdfunding: Why People are Motivated to Post and
Fund Projects on Crowdfunding Platforms. Design, Influence, and Social
Technologies Workshop at Computer Supported Cooperative Work.
Mollick, E. (2014). The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study. Journal of
Business Venturing, (29), 1-16.
Muniz, Jr., A., & OGuinn, T. (2001). Brand Community. Journal of Consumer Research,27,
412-432.
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Kozinets, R. (2010). Netnography: Doing ethnographic research online. Los Angeles, Calif.:
SAGE.
Kraut, R., & Resnick, P. (2011). Building successful online communities evidence-based
social design, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Kuppuswamy, V., & Bayus, B. (2013). Crowdfunding creative ideas: The dynamics of project
backers in Kickstarter. 1-37.
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using social media (1st ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Owyang, J., Tran, C., & Silva, C. (2013). The Collaborative Economy. Retrieved April 25,
2015, from http://popsop.com/wp-content/uploads/collabecon-draft16-130531132802phpapp02.pdf
Rogers, E. (1983). Diffusion of innovations (3 ed.). New York: Free Press.
Ronson, J. (2013, June 22). Amanda Palmer: Visionary or egotist? Retrieved April 25, 2015,
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,

22

Appendix

23

Appendix
#

Post

Quote
analysis

Link with
theory

Afford,
money is tight

Project big
and important

Intrinsic
motivation

Cd set, vinyl

Reward

Sincere

Authentisity

Part of this
Watching,
studying,
drinking;
Thrill ride
Learn more
New CD

Synthesis

Even though
person cant
afford to give
much,
supporting the
artist and
getting the
reward was
more important
than money.
Main reasson
is supporting
the artist

Conciousness of Is addicted to
kind
the project and
the process, is
very involved
Intrinsic
in everything
motivation
about it.
Doesnt care
much about the
Extrinsic
reason, just
motivation
wants to be a
part of
Reward
community.
Uses it for
entertainment,
communication
and learning

future of
music, we are
the media

community
jargon
community
jargon
community

AFP Army

consciousness
of kind

Direct ability

Support the
cause

community
every people
helps each
other

consciousness
of a kind

trend for the

future,
without
controlling

Support the
cause

AFP

jargon

one of 10,325

Consciousness
of kind

You

High centrality

Genuine

Trust

Supports the
cause, but also
enjoys being a
part of
community

Supports the
common cause
of fighting the
industry, but
also backs to
support
collaborative
economy

Even though
the person
mentions other
participants
(community),
the message is
aimed at
Amanda only.
Person seems
obsessed with
her. Support
the artist

6
excited
all who are
involved
refresh

Is genuinely
excited about
the project,
enjoyes it.
Supports the
work of the
artist

excited
done without
involving
jerks in suits
be a part of

Has strong
negative
opinion about
music industry
and uses
swearing
words to
express it;
shows support
for the cause.
Also likes
being a part of
the community

watched it
tick
deserving
cause
we

Related
himself to the
community,
participates in
it and follows
the progress. Is
excited about
the cause

us all
peoplepowered
we

Person is
talking to all
the
community,
and strongly
feels like a part
of it

10

Fans

community

This person is
showing that a
new fan
community has
been created.
We suppose
he/she funded
the project to
show his/her
attachment to
the community

community
jargon

This person
seems really
close to
Amanda
Palmer, He/she
knows her
really well.
He/she funded
her because
he/she find her
fantastic. Its
the love of the
artist that
drives him/her
to give money
to such a
project.

community
involvement
self-sacrifice

this backer is
using
Kickstarter to
create
relationship
and meet with
other fans of
Amanda
Palmer. More
than a social
media to
support the

11

Fucking (3)
Amazing
exited (2)
fantastical

12

chat before
knowing at
least a few
people
via the
interwebs

artist,
Kickstarter can
be a place to
meet new
people within
the communit
y
13

fan
love(2)
inspire
fantasti
real/really (3)
fucking(2)
gift
devotion
openness(2)
honesty

community moral
responsibility;
ritual;

community
jargon
trust
inspire to do

14

admires and
have passion
for Amanda
Palmer. Likes
being a part of
it, likes how
she
communicates
with the
community
and how she
makes music.
it is personal
for him, close
to him and
motives him to
go beyond
himself.
support the
creator; also,
reward and
supporting the
cause.

15

Contrasting
Lack of trust > attitude

Authenticity
Distrust