Varieties of cultural crowdfunding: the relationship between cultural production types and platform choice

Purpose
Due to the unique nature of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), the impact of crowdfunding on them is more significant than on other industries. This study investigates the association between crowdfunding campaigns in four different categories of cultural production and each campaign promoter's decision regarding platform choice.

Design/methodology/approach
We classified cultural productions according to the Cultural Enterprise Framework. We collected data from 1,465 successful, reward-based, culture crowdfunding campaigns from five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). We used binary logistic regression for estimation purposes.

Findings
We find that cultural productions with a high degree of cultural affinity are more likely to use a local platform, while cultural productions with a higher degree of complexity in production or with composite motives are more likely to use an international platform. Additionally, the funding goal and the platform's financing model affect the probability of using an international platform.

Originality/value
Our finding is that there is a relationship between cultural production type and crowdfunding platform choice, and that these choices can be crucial for campaign promoters. Based on the findings and empirical setting, there is evidence that campaign promoters of cultural productions with a cultural affinity orientation may choose to use local platforms, while promoters of projects with complex production requirements or composite motives for using crowdfunding similarly may tend to opt for international platforms. We also propose a framework for the categorisation of cultural productions.