The O’Reilly Radar brings attention to Jill Sobule, a singer/songwriter who has come up with a novel way to finance her next record. Rather then the traditional model of 1. investing in the recording and 2. selling to recoup costs and maybe make a profit, Jill is trying to raise the money upfront. Prior to the webination of music fans, this would have been pretty much impossible for anyone other then the biggest artists. Now, though, there is an infinte number of avenues to spread the word and generate interest in such an undertaking. The best part is that it bypasses the record labels. If artists can raise their own funds for projects, then they can keep control of the process and works that result as well as mitigate the financial risk of a large investment in recording (for a musician).

O’Reilly Radar: A rare post about the music industry that isn’t completely depressing