Vimeo Commits Up To $1 Million In Matching Funds For Indiegogo Films

Vimeo On Demand is now Indiegogo’s preferred digital-rights-management-free, pay-to-download-and-or-rent distribution partner. The crowdfunding platform and the video-sharing website that was originally a haven for the artistic filmmaking crowd, but is now making its way into the mainstream made the announcement on January 24, 2015 from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City Utah.

As part of the partnership, IndieGoGo will become one of the latest to sign unto Vimeo’s shiny new Publisher Network. Vimeo On Demand will set up a VOD storefront on the Indiegogo website featuring titles for rent and sale that were funded by way of the crowdfunding platform. In turn, Vimeo will feature an “Indiegogo Funded Films” curated collection on its own site, filled with films and series for rent and sale that Indieogogo’s platform helped to make a reality.

“Vimeo is all about giving power to the creators,” said Vimeo CEO, Kerry Trainor in a statement. “This partnership highlights both Vimeo and Indiegogo’s continued support of independent filmmakers on a global level, and provides Indiegogo’s community of creators an opportunity to be exposed to an even wider audience via Vimeo’s transactional VOD platform.”

As another part of the partnership, Vimeo has promised to commit up to $1,000,000 in matching funds for select Indiegogo film campaigns in 2015

. Like Vimeo’s previous multi-million dollar matching funds initiatives with select film festivals, those funds will come in the form of cold hard cash or equivalent marketing dollars for Indiegogo projects about which the powers that be at Vimeo are particularly excited. In exchange, those filmmakers which receive funding will use Vimeo On Demand as the exclusive distribution platform for their finished products.

“Mirroring the diversity of our open platform, we are proud to support an incredibly robust community of filmmakers across multiple genres,” said Indiegogo CEO, Slava Rubin in a statement. “With the addition of Vimeo as a distribution partner, it is now easier than ever for filmmakers using Indiegogo, to pursue their passions, receive funding, garner global exposure, and deliver their work directly to their fans.”

While a handful of very successful Indiegogo film campaigns have already used Vimeo as their platform of distribution, Malcom Carter’s The Connected Universe is the first project to participate in the new partnership. The film focuses on the “science behind the interconnection of all things in the Universe” with special attention to the works of theorist Nassim Haramein and was the most well-funded Indiegogo documentary in history, tapping out at $258,350 in funds raises from 2,803 funders.