Multiple Creators, Including Kneon From Clownfish TV And That Umbrella Guy, Savage IndieGoGo After Company Fails To Pay Out Kamen America Creator Tim Lim
IndieGoGo came under scrutiny for failure to pay out Kamen America creator Tim Lim of Iconic Comics after a large number of creators have been targeted in recent years over politics. Now, That Umbrella Guy and Kneon from Clownfish TV chime in with their experiences showing the crowdfunding company to have a pattern of not paying creators.
IndieGoGo used to be known as the main competitor of Kickstarter, one of the only options to crowdfund on the market for a creator looking to get work made. Since Kickstarter is known to politically target creators who advocate conservative or right-wing values, IndieGoGo became a spot where many comic artists and YouTube content creators rallied to make their projects.
In recent years, however, the company has been suspect in their biases. First, they banned multiple projects such as Electric Dinosaur and Chuck Dixon with his Alt-Hero Q. Then, the company banned popular science fiction author Jon Del Arroz.
It became worse this year as IndieGoGo began shadowbanning all content associated with the ComicsGate hashtag, which culminated in creator Cecil Says getting his project Cash Grab 2 banned.
As IndieGoGo became more politically hostile, their pattern of not paying out creators began to emerge. It was called out yesterday by Iconic Comics creator Tim Lim, artist of the popular Kamen America, as he revealed he’s had three instances where IndieGoGo withheld funds under the guise of Trust & Safety.
That Umbrella Guy, who had incredible success with his comic The Case Of The Littlest Umbrella and subsequent sequels, gave his two cents on bad experiences with IndieGoGo, “Indiegogo has become trash. When my last campaign ended, they delayed pay for several months, and when I wrote them, nothing. So I wrote again, and they sent an auto message saying they'd gotten that initial mail, so they were closing the new mail. I won't use em again.”
Kneon from Clownfish TV voiced similar experiences, saying, “My understanding is that IndieGoGo is bleeding out money, and they're just stalling for time until they (hopefully) find a buyer. They're pivoting to tech and could care less about comic books. I'm told the "trust and safety" stuff is more about stalling payouts so they can keep the backer money in their coffers as long as possible.”
He followed up, “Regardless of the hows and whys, I don't think they can be trusted anymore.”
They weren’t the only ones voicing disdain for the crowdfunding platform.
Cecil Says hammered IndieGoGo on politics, “They canceled me for wrong think. Some subjects are protected from ridicule by the blue haired freaks running @Indiegogo.”
Finally, Kneel Before Doomface creator Aaron Sparrow said, “When I was at NYCC, one of @Indiegogo’s outreach reps tried to convince me to bring Kneel Before Doomface to IGG instead of @Kickstarter. He seemed nice, so I didn’t laugh in his face. But I did explain all the reasons I had no interest in launching on their platform.”
It appears as if IndieGoGo has lost the trust of the safety of creators, despite their sending emails from a group called Trust & Safety. With crowdfunding platforms like FundMyComic showing they’re pro free-speech and safe for creators, and also having business practices where they pay creators immediately upon receipt of funds, one wonders how long IndieGoGo will last in this environment.
What do you think of multiple creators, including That Umbrella Guy and Kneon from Clownfish TV, hammering IndieGoGo? Become a paid member to leave a comment and support our journalism.
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Oh joy, another online business fucking over anyone that doesn't bow down to Liberal Communist ideology.