[Sudo-crowd] CFP: New Media and Society special issue on crowdfunding

[Eddan Katz]

> Call for Papers: New Media & Society special issue on crowdfunding.
> 
> Edited by Lucy Bennett, Bertha Chin and Bethan Jones
> 
> The concept of crowdfunding, where grassroots creative projects are funded
> by the masses through websites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo has been
> steadily gaining attention in the last few years. The 2013 success of the
> Veronica Mars movie campaign, along with the successful crowdfunding
> projects spearheaded by musicians like Amanda Palmer and, most recently,
> actor Zach Braff, has raised much discussion surrounding the rich and
> powerful possibilities of this method of funding. However, the practice has
> also invited much criticism, not just of Kickstarter but also of
> crowdfunding in general.  Among some of the most common accusations levelled
> at crowdfunding are: it is used by media conglomerates to exploit fans;
> successful artists using the scheme take money away from genuine independent
> producers who actually need it; and the time and money spent on delivering
> perks to donors detracts from the time and money invested in the actual
> project. However, others have argued that the existence of crowdfunding
> affords media scholars new ways of examining the role of the audience in
> television and film production, that fan agency needs to be more widely
> considered in discussions of fan exploitation, and that ‘fan-ancing’ is
> leading to a new business model for the financing of artistic projects that
> is free from studio or network intervention.
> 
> This special issue seeks to examine and unravel the debates around
> crowdfunding and thus brings together contributors from a range of academic
> disciplines. We are seeking papers that offer a wide range of perspectives
> on the processes of crowdfunding projects, from analyses of the crowdfunded
> projects themselves, to the interaction between producers and audiences, and
> to the role that Kickstarter plays in discussions around fan agency and
> exploitation. Thus, we invite proposals on, but not limited to, the
> following topics surrounding crowdfunding:
> 
> - Case studies of crowdfunding campaigns
> - Fandom
> - Unsuccessful crowdfunding efforts
> - The role of the internet and social media in crowdfunding
> - Producer/funder relationships
> - Crowd funding in the music, film, television and games industries
> - Anti-fandom
> - The role of auteurs and cult names/media in attracting backers
> - Fan exploitation and labour
> - Rewards and producer accountability
> 
> Please send 400 word abstract proposals, along with a short author
> biography, by 20th June 2013. Please email these, along with any other
> enquiries, to bennettlucyk at gmail.com, bertha.chin at gmail.com and
> bethanvjones at hotmail.com. Final, selected, articles will be due during
> January 2014.
> 
> =====
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