I posted several months ago about ArtistShare, the website that helps musicians sell directly over the web through a wide range of options, including sponsorships of artists. The site's first artist, Maria Schneider, won a grammy for "Concert in the Garden" last weekend. Here's a chunk from the News.com article about Schneider:
LOS ANGELES--Jazz composer Maria Schneider took home a Grammy on Sunday for her album "Concert in the Garden," without selling a single copy in a record store.Posted by johndan at February 15, 2005 02:27 PM | TrackBackSchneider, 44, financed her Grammy-winning album through an Internet-based music delivery service called ArtistShare that opens the financing of production to dedicated fans.
Schneider said she believed she might be the first artist ever to win a Grammy for an album distributed solely on the Web. But she said that other musicians had already approached her about trying similar experiments of their own.
"It's been very gratifying for me. It's a new way for fans to be closer to artists and artists to be closer to fans," Schneider told reporters after receiving her award.
"They (fans) came into the project long before I completed my CD," she said.
Schneider, who was ArtistShare's first participating artist, said she had funded the cost of her original budget before she started recording, an anomaly in recording, particularly with jazz albums.