Today I got an email about this Kickstarter-like microfunding initiative: Microfundo. The effort is connected to Mondomix (formerly known as Calabash), an iTunes-ish site dedicated to “world music” that bills itself as distributing “fair trade” mp3s. I’m not sure that claim is fully warranted, but it’s a neat site nonetheless.
The Microfundo project intersects with ongoing discussions about sustainability in funding the arts, and a quick look at the financial structure (grassroots microloans) and the kinds of projects funded (primarily recordings by indie artists, with one project focused on getting money into the hands of displaced Haitian musicians) concretizes the relationship of this effort to some of the things we have been (and will continue) to discuss in this class.
