Threadhead Records part of larger trend?

[glinda]

In today's Chicago Tribune:

Reinventing the Music Business:Fan Donations Pay for new Jill Sobule album

http://tinyurl.com/dajbzj

"... As musicians seek alternative ways to deliver recorded music as the music industry suffers through its worst downturn in a century, attention has focused on innovators such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, who have released music directly to their fans on their own Web sites. But there are a bevy of lower-profile artists who are making similarly innovative moves out of even greater necessity. Even as the Internet affords artists an unprecedented opportunity to communicate directly with their fans, they must figure out how to make their music heard amid a cacophony of viral voices....."

I love what she says at the end of the article about how liberating this way of making an album is... how she can't blame the label....

[Frosty]

You beat me to it. I emailed Greg Kot with our link. I have received responses from him before so I'm sure he reads his email.

[swag]

Yeah, I think there is a larger trend to look for alternate ways to fund recordings. A big driver of this, IMO: one of the big benefits to a major-label release used to be getting the shelf space at the record store; that's quickly becoming obsolete. But most of the efforts I've seen are like the one described in the article - asking fans for donations. Those may be successful, but are inherently one-and-done. After the album is made, the effort ceases.

The THR model - asking for loans with a hope to be able to repay - seems unique in that it's designed to be sustainable. I'd love to see other music communities copy it.