The likelier proportion of Kickstarter in funding a concert

I am hardly the first to say that almost all classical music projects on Kickstarter fail. You can be a renowned musician in a world-class orchestra, your classical Kickstarter project will probably fail (I've seen that happen, it's very scary and discouraging). There is this misconception going around that Kickstarter is a miracle cure for your arts funding problems, that you just present your idea and strangers give you enough money to do it.

If you want to put on an orchestral concert and get all of your funding through Kickstarter, well, all I can say is good luck, don't come crying to me when it doesn't happen. I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm saying it's highly unlikely. I learned the hard way a couple of years ago.

What about something smaller, like a string quartet concert? It's still very difficult. If I get to put on a string quartet concert this year (and I really, fondly hope that I can), this is quite likely where the funds will come from:

• 90% wages from a day job that has nothing to do with music
• 8% from a grant from an arts organization
• 1.9% from my classical music eBook earnings
• 0.1% from different crowd-funding websites, including Kickstarter

Something I was only vaguely aware of until yesterday when a friend posted about it on Facebook: Kickstarter projects can be rejected with no explanation whatsoever given. That hasn't happened to me, but if it does, maybe it would bother me. I'll just have to remember that getting my check docked at my day job, having my hours cut, getting laid off, etc., will have a much, much greater impact on funding my concerts than anything that happens on Kickstarter.