Earl Scioneaux III is not a famous music producer like Quincy Jones.
He is a simple audio engineer in New Orleans who mixes live albums of local jazz musicians by day and creates electronic music by night. He had long wanted to pursue his dream of making his own album that married jazz and electronica, but he had no easy way to raise the $4,000 he needed for production. Then he heard about Kickstarter, a start-up based in Brooklyn that uses the Web to match aspiring da Vincis and Spielbergs with mini-Medicis who are willing to chip in a few dollars toward their projects. Unlike similar sites that simply solicit donations, patrons on Kickstarter get an insider&x2019s access to the projects they finance, and in most cases, some tangible memento of their contribution. The artists and inventors, meanwhile, are able to gauge in real time the commercial appeal of their ideas before they invest a lot of effort &x2014 and cash. &x201CIt&x2019s not an investment, lending or a charity,&x201D said Perry Chen, a co-founder of Kickstarter and a friend of Mr. Scioneaux. &x201CIt&x2019s something else in the middle: a sustainable marketplace where people exchange goods for services or some other benefit and receive some value.&x201D Mr. Scioneaux, who ultimately raised $4,100, offered a range of rewards to his supporters: for a $15 payment, patrons received an advance copy of the album for $30, they got a personal music lesson as well. A payment of $50 or more got both of those, and a seat at Mr. Scioneaux&x2019s dinner table for a bowl of his homemade gumbo and a chance to listen to some of his studio recordings. &x201CI didn&x2019t expect people to be all over that one,&x201D he said, &x201Cbut it sold out almost immediately.&x201D That sense of inclusion is an important part of the appeal to Kickstarter&x2019s supporters, who don&x2019t get a tax deduction for their payments. Mr. Scioneaux&x2019s dozen or so dinner guests included Mark Barrilleaux, an engineer from Houston, and his wife, Janet, a retired nurse, who put up a total of $100. &x201CWe decided it&x2019d be worth it for the entertainment value and the opportunity to participate in a musical production,&x201D said Mr. Barrilleaux. &x201CI&x2019m a petroleum engineer. How else could I join the music business&x201D So far, projects on Kickstarter have included building a temporary wedding chapel in Manhattan, converting an old bus into a mobile Thai restaurant, sailing around the world and shooting photographs from all 50 states. Mr. Chen began toying with the concept in 2002 after he reluctantly called off a concert he had been planning to host during the New Orleans JazzFest because the $20,000 investment was too risky for him to shoulder alone. &x201CI realized there was an underlying problem that needed a solution,&x201D he said. &x201CThere could be a way to find out if people were willing to commit to an event and even fund it to manage the risk involved.&x201D
The idea simmered until 2005, when Mr. Chen befriended Yancey Strickler, who used to head the editorial staff at eMusic, an online retailer, and the two decided to see if the concept would work.