Crowdfunding platform Drip began life as a project out of independent label Ghostly International: a way for indie labels and artists to raise money from fans through ongoing subscriptions.
In early 2016 its founders announced plans to shut it down, before crowdfunding company Kickstarter swooped in to acquire it, with promises of a relaunch. That came in November 2017, but then nearly a year later Kickstarter announced that it had brought in another company, events firm XOXO, to develop a new iteration of Drip. Now there’s some bad news: the project has been canned before launching.
“Ultimately, we couldn’t find a way to make the business viable. We explored a number of different options—voluntary subscriptions from users, premium features, increased fees—but the resources required to support a high number of lower-volume creators always outpaced our revenue,” reported XOXO in a blog post that may pose some questions for established, VC-funded crowdfunding platforms like Patreon.
“We were intent on running a sustainable and independent business. Even if we went the traditional route and raised venture capital, it didn’t appear likely to survive once that funding ran out… The idea of launching something with so much uncertainty and risk felt irresponsible and unfair.” Given recent events with PledgeMusic, probably the right decision.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools :: Cresqa
Cresqa pitches itself as “your personal content strategy assistant”.
To access this post, you…