And you learn as you go.” The premiums for Tightrope Walker were like platinum-card premiums for serious Yamagata fans, and certainly must-owns for any completist. But there are so many interesting ways to connect with people, and it’s a great system to invite someone into your world, and also, they’re there to become part of your ability to pull something off. “I see some people offering a dinner, and the artist will cook for you, and if I could cook, I would do that. “And in terms of what fans want to be part of, the more you can put into that initial stage of setting things up, the better,” she adds. What can you put up for sale? “I think it’s just up to how creative you want to be with your ideas,” says Yamagata, 39, who was a local star in Chicago band Bumpus. A Sword-of-Damocles advance that you’ll eventually have to pay back, no matter how well said record should sell? Through sites like PledgeMusic and KickStarter, performers can tap directly into their fan base and offer one-on-one premiums in exchange for album-financing donations. Why beg some big shot A&R executive for the money to underwrite your latest collection of songs? she reasoned. And she auctioned off virtually everything but the kitchen sink. After playing the major-label game via her Private Music/Arista-issued 2004 debut Happenstance, she partnered with PledgeMusic to fund her third, 2011’s Chesapeake, then teamed with the crowd-sourcing company again two years ago for her latest. For her inventive new fourth full-lengther, Tightrope Walker, she broke so many rules of conventional recording wisdom, she can barely remember them all. For any young artist curious enough to ask the right questions, rethink the major-music-label power structure, and ultimately willing to do the legwork involved in reimagining yourself as an independent DIY musician, the life-changing answers will become self-evident. The truth is out there, believes Rachael Yamagata.
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