Investors and patrons, gatekeepers and social capital. Representations and experiences of fans participation in fan funding

One of the ways in which fans express themselves has always consisted in supporting artists and/or projects falling within their interests. The development of Web 2.0 has dug up a growing number of platforms and services which make participation in cultural production easier and more effective for those willing to collaborate in different ways: for example providing funding, evaluations, creative cues, or supporting promotion and circulation. Depending on the specific cases and perspectives of analysis such practices have been considered very differently: as examples of democratization and signals of the gradual shifting from "push" to "pull" systems of cultural production or, on the contrary, as updates of the rationalization of production – especially of the relationship between creatives and fans from the part of new intermediaries – suitable to the logics of post-fordism and post-industrialism and useful to enhance “the wealth of networks”. The chapter examines the fan funding practices, considering both the possible ways relationships between artist and fan are articulated and how such articulations are affected by the discursive and technical building of fan funding from the part of the web-platforms hosting the campaigns. Based on the analysis of 22 websites dedicated to crowdfunding for cultural projects (both generalist and specialized in specific fields of cultural production) and on 46 interviews to artists and backers, the article focuses, on the one side, on the value propositions and on the functioning of fan funding platforms, on the other side on the behaviors and experiences of participants (artists and backers). It concludes drawing some insights regarding the different kinds of motivations and relationships artist can drawn upon and the ways in which different kind of fandom can work as different kind of social capital in crowdfunding practices.