Bjork falls short

Bjork was looking to raise £375,000 from her fans through Kickstarter, in order to port the Bioplhilia app to Android and Windows 8.

In a handwritten note, Bjork told fans:

I feel I cannot leave this project before this has been done since this seems to be the area where it can bloom most

It's not going to bloom now, as the campaign has been dropped a third of the way through, with only £15,370 promised.

There's no explanation of why the campaign has been ended, although the slow take-up would seem to be the most likely reason.

There was an educational programme connected with the app, and much of the Kickstarter plea focused on this - but it doesn't disguise the fact that the fabulously wealthy Bjork was seeking other people to fund the porting of an app which retails for thirteen dollars in the iTunes store. While the education programme might be not-for-profit, there's no suggestion that the Kickstarter project is funding a not-for-profit scheme.

The Biophilia educational website is also a little strange - without wanting to impugn either its motivation or value, if this is a "not for profit" scheme, there's nothing on the website which underpins this status - no charity number, no non-profit pledge. And there's not very much detail on who the organisation is. While the app and how it can be used educationally is explored through a series of videos, there's not very much on the 'who are you'.

Yes, you might give to a Kickstarter to get a signed photo or an exclusive t-shirt, but if what's being sold is that you're helping out a not-for-profit educational organisation, you'd be looking for a bit more explanation of how your money actually supports that aim, surely?

Of course, it might just be that she's paused the appeal in order to add porting to the Blackberry Z10.