I see a lot of fundraisers these days. Some are for good causes, some are not. But that's not why I chose to write this. The other day the Blerds Online twitter account received a direct message. It said "So y'all can't even donate a dollar?" The arrogance of this guy attempting to guilt trip us into supporting a behind the scenes DVD looking at the making of his latest mixtape annoyed me. But it's not even the first time it's happened. I've soured on the fundraising idea as a whole at this point.
The problem is a lot of these fund raising projects never actually happen. They're given up halfway or you never see any results. You give up some money, and expect to never see it again, but you expect results. Sometimes people claim to be doing a great justice with their work, only for you to realize it's just a carbon copy of what's already out there. I love everything that we do here at Blerds Online, but we're not reinventing the wheel. We don't have any illusions of grandeur and we don't believe we're slept on. We do believe however that we have a growing fan-base and it'll take work to keep them happy and expand.
I don't have a problem hearing about your fundraiser for your project. I may even donate, but the problem is a lot of these fundraisers are just spam at the end of the day. I can't tell you how many tweets and emails we get every week with someone asking us to help get their project off the ground and they can't show you anything but a sketch or two and don't have a story laid out. In some cases, they don't have anything to show at all. They act as if it's impossible to even begin to work on something without a dollar.
Don't get me wrong, I think the idea of fundraising is a good one. It can help start independent projects, free of Hollywood corruption, that we desperately need. We need more Dormtainment. We need more Issa Rae. However, a lot of these people don't have the money for that kind of quality. Fundraising is a big help in that area. The problem is a lot of people are quick to ask for the cash but don't have anything to actually show that they're serious about the project. They can't be bothered to film a pilot in their mother's living room with an iPhone.
Kanye West said it best on the remix to his song Power, "Power to the people at last, it's a new hour. Now we ain't all gonna be American Idols, but you can at least grab your camera and shoot a viral." The same goes for music, comics and everything else. Do you really need 100K for your debut album? Who are you buying beats from? What kind of magnificent studio are you recording in? At least have a start before asking for cash. Show me that you're already dedicated and I'll willingly dig in the couch and give whatever I can.
I'm tired of the emails, the tweets from random accounts, the DMs, being tagged in photos on twitter. The idea that you can guilt trip others into helping is ridiculous. My dad taught me something really important when I was young and maybe that can help a few people out. Nobody owes you shit so you have to get out there and handle it yourself, then someone might help you. It comes down to this: If you don't give a fuck about your project enough to start for free why the fuck should I give you my money?
You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
Follow @OriginalKingD
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