QuNeo’s Kickstarter Success Fueled By Pro Fanboys
The QuNeo is a "Multi-touch Open Source MIDI & USB Pad Controller" in its final days of fundraising via a Kickstarter campaign. The controller will be produced by Keith McMillen Instruments and due to a combination of their reputation, desire for the product and Kickstarter's strong combo of fundraising and presales, their request for $15,000 on Kickstarter has resulted in pledges over $100,000. Though gear is definitely a different kind of product than an album or film release, it's worth considering the QuNeo's success as a harnessing of the combined force of fanboy enthusiast and pro fan, often in the same individual fan.
The QuNeo controller is a project of Keith McMillen Instruments that has also produced such goodies as the K-Bow and the SoftStep Foot Controller. These instruments have impressed a lot of musicians, as has the career of founder Keith McMillen, giving them a reputation for unique hardware with lots of pro fanboys including such artists as Thavius Beck and Vernon Reid as seen in the artist endorsements video.
The QuNeo campaign ends January 9th and has dramatically exceeded its goals. While such oversize success on Kickstarter may seem like a fluke, QuNeo is the perfect candidate for crowdfunding.
Keith McMillen Instruments' history of creating and delivering such products is well established. The products themselves have created a large fanbase including many professional producers. QuNeo meets a demand for sophisticated touch recognition in a pad controller that is designed to plug and play with lots of options for advanced users.
Given the combination of enthusiasm for the brand and the appeal of this product, Kickstarter's ability to leverage enthusiasts (fanboys) via crowdfunding and serious users (pro fans) via presales makes QuNeo an ideal Kickstarter project.
Questions for artists: What drives your pro fanboys?
Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and blogs at All World Dance and This Business of Blogging. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
