I don't believe Dave when he said that De La lowered the goal to seem less greedy. I think another reason behind it was the fact that if they didn't reach the higher goal, and missed out by say $5,000, they would have had to refund the funding they raised. I don't believe they are that nice and genuine... (And I'm a fan)
However, I do believe them when they say it's not about pocketing money.
Related note:
The beauty of crowd funding through the likes of Kickstarter is that the well known brands can make the required money for a new product, based off the consumers perception of their brand.
In other words, De La has made so much money through this funding process because people have based their opinion on the new albums value off of the back of their other older albums. SO, if you are consistently good as an artist putting out music, Kickstarter is a great way for you to fund your next albums if people know they can rely on you to give them something good in return.
Remember: The value of the new album is based off of the value of the old ones.
Just another reason for you to focus on branding, instead of writing it off like it's all bull****.
Cheers,
Jordan