Grammy Winner Bypasses Recording Industry
from the how-it's-done... dept
One of the more popular “alternative” means for financing an album among musicians who want to avoid the recording industry is to finance the production of the album via dedicated fans. A few artists have been trying out this method, including the artist once again known as Prince. One of the Grammy winners from last night, Maria Schneider, apparently produced her album this way, getting fans to pay up for the initial production, and sending them the “limited” edition CDs when they came out. Other than that, the songs were available via downloads (the article doesn’t indicate where or how, unfortunately). Either way, though, Schneider claims it’s worked out better for her. The costs were paid upfront, and any additional profits aren’t being shared with any label or distributor. Yet another example that there are business models that work in a world beyond the more obsolete traditional recording industry model.