Rewards-based crowdfunding platform Indiegogo has secured a film distribution deal in partnership with VHX and Yekra. The announcement was made in a recent post to Indiegogo’s blog.
Through this new program, filmmakers running crowdfunding campaigns can now rely on Indiegogo to help facilitate a connection to an industry-leading distribution partner and complete the last critical stage in releasing and promoting their films. This program is also available to films that have already completed funding on Indiegogo.
The move is interesting in that Indiegogo has now made a concerted effort to create a full monetization funnel for film ideation. Filmmakers can market test on Indiegogo’s platform. The crowd funds the films that they want to see, and if the filmmaker makes it through the crowdfunding gauntlet they now have two services to choose from in regards to offering access to the film. Backers can be granted access and those that didn’t back on Indiegogo can pay the filmmaker directly through either VHX or Yekra.
A brief rundown of the differences between the two options is available on Indiegogo’s blog. In short, it seems the main difference is rights management. Content published to VHX is intrinsically DRM-free when downloaded. Yekra offers DRM enablement.
As part of the deal, VHX will waive fees for backer fulfillment. (Normally 15% + $0.50 per transaction) Yekra waives their setup fees and annual hosting fee ($1500 between them) and offers ongoing discounts.
Recently the Roger Ebert documentary Life Itself was funded on Indiegogo and streamed to backers via VHX’s service.
