Barriers to participation in cultural crowdfunding

Crowdfunding and other forms of relatively direct financial interaction between cultural producers and the public have been hailed as corrective mechanisms for oligarchic culture industries. The chapter considers research that examined how social capital in the form of connections with other individuals and cultural capital in the form of digital media production and promotion skills impact crowdfunding, and reflect the continuing presence of barriers that challenge cultural producers’ ability to leverage crowdfunding to fund their creative projects. Later, I rely on the more general literature on digital inequality to consider how socio-economic status might impact the ability of cultural producers to use crowdfunding successfully. I conclude with some policy suggestions for both platforms and governments that could lower barriers to participation in crowdfunding.