http://news.com.com/Web-only+album+wins ... g=nefd.top
This URL is a news story about a woman who is a jazz composer and who won a Grammy last night. The interesting thing is that the funding for producing her CD came from her fans in the form of a subscription. Each subscriber got a CD and the remaining ones were auctioned off. She was able to cover the $87,000 it cost to produce the CD and there was profit left over for her (deservedly so). The whole thing was co-ordinated through a website set up for the purpose.
I've wondered at various times about just this sort of thing: fans subscribing in advance to a project they would like to see go forward. What if Burt's fans chose four of his existing songs that they (collectively) feel never got a fair hearing commercially (and so were not big hits), and then have Burt propose several singers who would be willing to record them with Burt as producer and arranger. The resulting four tracks could be issued in limited edition on CD. Perhaps fans could continue to buy the CD at Burt's concerts, if they didn't get in on the original subscription.
I suggest only four songs, since this would be a more manageable project that could be done over a shorter period of time than a full 12-song CD. Burt already keeps so busy! Alternatively, the fans might suggest eight or ten possible songs and let Burt pick the four he would like to use.
If Burt would be amenable to something like this, perhaps Mark's website here could provide a link to the subscription site. I know this is just a rough idea at this point, but I think something like this might be the wave of the future (or at least one wave).
What do you all think of this possibility?
Subscribing an Album
Moderator: mark