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The concept of fan-funded projects is both riveting and like watching a car crash. Who will pay? What will they pay? Who cares?

TAMARA'S TAKE: YOU, TOO, CAN PARTY LIKE A POLKASTAR

Conniff Gives Her Take on Fan-Funded Projects and a Certain Accordionist Who Stole Her Heart
Tamara Conniff is a well-respected music industry pundit who has just launched TheComet.com, which she describes as “the Huffington Post of music.” Hey, if HITS can be the Mad magazine of the record business, why not? This is the first of a regular series of opinion pieces in which Tamara will explore issues affecting the current climate. In other words...blame her, she wrote it.

I am totally obsessed with PledgeMusic.com. The concept of fan-funded projects is both riveting and like watching a car crash. Who will pay? What will they pay? Who cares?

Many acts, who either don’t want a record label or just can’t get one, are going direct to fans. Pledge basically is the facilitator, so it’s not complete self-service, and artists can also choose charities to donate some of the proceeds to.

The mix of bands is beyond eclectic. From random acts like Johnny Koenig, a polka/waltz artist who wants fans to fund Party Like a Polkastar (he’s at 1% pledged of total desired) to veteran U.K. rockers Gang of Four (at 129% pledged) and Welsh indie darlings Funeral for a Friend (223% pledged).

I seem to recall that Todd Rundgren was the true champion of this concept in the mid-1990s when he launched Patronet—a fan subscription service that basically funded his work. But that was before the Internet was the Internet; he was a bit ahead of his time.

The only problem with fan-funded is, with acts like Mr. Polka, nothing on the Internet offers emerging artists a means to quit their day jobs. But art for art’s sake? Why not?

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