Fan-based crowdfunding campaigns, a one-sided thing or a win-win situation?

Fans are those kinds of people who feel motivated by admiration to demonstrate their personal support to their “idols” by getting involved in many different kinds of events: conventions, marches, concerts, meetings; also posting online, displaying banners for them, writing good reviews, creating content in their favor and even defending them against scandals and haters. It sounds like a really hard job, and it is.

In October 2003 the first crowdfunding platform on the internet was launched. The ArtistShare project had the idea of becoming a place for musicians to obtain support to finance their albums or go on tours by the hand of their fans, and as everything done with love: fan-funded projects became successful, because one of the most beautiful things that a creator, artist, movie maker, musician, painter, writer, or social media influencer can have is people who believe in them and give them support. But once again, the hard job was handed to fans since now they were not only the emotional supporters of an artist but the direct financial supporters in a donor-based crowdfunding scheme.

Did you know that Fans support the creators they love and they become the foundation of their careers and maintenance in time? Artists can undoubtedly provide entertainment to their fans when they receive monetary support but at the same time, they make money with it. Even though a fan helps finance a tour that doesn’t mean the tour itself won’t generate income, in fact, any concert or tour is fixed for monetization purposes and its thought to get a high return of investment: ticket sells, VIP admissions, official video recordings, brand promotions, marketing campaigns, souvenirs, and they even generate jobs for thousands of other people. It seems that this is a business in which just one side of the coin earns in money, then what do the fans get in return for their efforts?

The admired ones usually show their thankfulness and appreciation with love messages, and, indeed, fans usually wish to acquire material objects like a t-shirt, a signature, an important sentimental object like a guitar pick or a pencil; to have social interaction with the person they admire and also with other fans: a casual conversation, an e-mail, chat rooms, and even face-to-face meetings such as fan club meetings and any other kind of organized conventions. But still, this doesn't convert to money opportunities for them.

The market growth and people's needs have promoted the creation of a new project that can offer fans multiple possibilities:

• Establishing real connections with the people they admire and a community with their same interests.
• Be rewarded with material significant items.
• And now also monetize themselves while they give support.

When a creator, influencer, celebrity or any important figure sings up in mintMe and create his token to crowdfund their project they also can back up those tokens with their original creations, or special gifts to incentive their fans to purchase their tokens to obtain benefits that they couldn’t in any other platform, like in a reward-based crowdfunding, but what is innovative is that when a fan purchases a token in mintme he can also become a trader and decide whether he wants to hold the token to speculate on it and sell it at a higher price later on when it gains recognition, which means that the fan who gives support also gets the chance of earning money through it, like being an early investor. This is a completely different vision of crowdfunding and token creation. "... when a fan purchases a token in mintMe he can also become a trader ..."

We all have someone we admire, maybe a Youtuber, a speaker, a crypto influencer, comedian, a blogger or even a health guru. Wouldn’t you like to be able to support them securely and also become a smart investor being able to earn real money? In mintMe fans can also earn by giving support to the people they believe in because If a talented artist can achieve success thanks to his fan-base, why can't his fans be rewarded financially as well?

Mary Schwartz