I think crowdfunding can definitely be done right. A while ago the VK band Lacroix Despheres started up an indiegogo campaign for their 3rd album. It was going to be released either way, but they were raising money in order to increase the album budget and hopefully work with Video Game Orchestra to get a live orchestra on their new album. I ended up tossing in $35 to get a signed CD and some goodies, which I though was a pretty fair price. Unfortunately overseas VK fans are uber cheap and they only got a total of 33 backers with an average amount of about $35 per person totaling up to $1140(with ~$6131 donated through the Japanese crowdfunding site MotionGallery). Now they didn't end up hitting their goals to record with a live orchestra. I guess you could say that the campaign "failed", but they still get that money to help increase the production values, which is good.
The way I look at crowd-funding stuff like this is just a glorified pre-order system where you get to choose your own pre-order bonus. I think it's a great system for smaller bands who can't get the backing of labels, but still want to do the best that they can. Honestly, I would absolutely love it if more indie VK bands would jump on the bandwagon.