Fan-funded music

Making a professional-sounding recording can be expensive, particularly for ensembles (like rock bands) who want to capture at least some semblance of a live performance. Sure, you can get an decent recording with a portable stereo recorder, or a couple of inexpensive mics panned left and right and plugged directly into the mixer, but most artists want their music to sound as good as it possibly can--as good as any other artist played on the radio. That takes an array of microphones and other audio gear and somebody who knows what they're doing. In other words, money.

Slicethepie offers an online trading market that lets you speculate on the number of singles and albums a band on the service will sell over two years.(Credit: Slicethepie)

In the post-label world, who funds these recordings? Peter Spellman, director of career development at the Berklee School of Music, explores three fan-funded (or "crowdfunding") options in a blog posting on KnowTheMusicBiz.com.

ArtistShare, which has been around since 2002, allows fans to contribute to particular artists and receive exclusive tidbits, such as in-progress recordings. SellaBand works more like a small-scale venture capitalist for bands--fans can "invest" $10 apiece, and when an artist reaches $50,000, Sellaband will hook them up with industry professionals, including producers and studios, to record and market an album. Revenue comes from advertisements shown next to free downloads, as well as sales of the finished album, and are split three ways between SellaBand, the "investors," and the artist.