The 
Music Networks Association (IASPM Hungary)
 presents 
Patryk Galuszka
's (University of Lodz, Central European University) lecture, titled: 
A Very Different Record Label - Case Study Of Polish Crowdfunding Platform
. Crowdfunding “involves an open call, mostly through the 
Internet
, for the provision of 
financial resources 
either in the form of 
donation
 or in 
exchange for the future product
 or some form of reward to support initiatives for specific purposes.” (Belleflamme et al., 2014, p. 4). The 
popularity of crowdfunding
 is growing, which makes it an 
interesting alternative
 to traditional ways of financing production of records. The presentation addresses
such questions as
 what differs crowdfunding
platforms' business models
from the business models of traditional record labels and h
ow crowdfunding changes relations between artists and listeners
(e.g. how do they change, taking into account that listeners become “investors” in musical projects)?
According to industry estimates, almost
$1.5 billion
was raised by crowdfunding platforms worldwide in 2011, and the
number of existing platforms
as of December 2012 was more than
500
(Crowdsourcing.org, 2012). While a
few global platforms
, such as
Kickstarter
,
ArtistShare
or
Sellaband
, receive significant media attention, relatively little is known about the influence of crowdfunding on smaller music markets, especially in
non-English-speaking countries
. The presentation aims to fill this gap by showing
a case study of MegaTotal
, the biggest and oldest crowdfunding platform in Poland. During the six years of its operations, artists registered with MegaTotal have managed to attract funds for the recording of 105 albums, 80 of which have already been released (state for 15.01.2014).

The
study is based on data collected using a Web survey
conducted in March and April 2011 and in–depth interviews with the management of MegaTotal and artists who successfully crowdfunded their projects.

The language of the lecture will be
English
(no translation services provided). Location: Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) E Building, Room 604 (Egry J. u. 1.)