Blog exclusive: In this post I told you about how Def Leppard and other bands have attempted to get out from under the thumbs of their labels by rerecording their own music, so that they could do with it as they pleased, making their own deals with iTunes and others.

The success of this method of maintaining autonomy and control likely depends on the support of the band's fans. A well-known band like Def Leppard comes along asking fans to purchase the "forgeries" of their back catalog, and they'll jump on the bandwagon, especially now that it has become easy to find the fans through Facebook, Twitter, and "official websites." (I just visited Def Leppard's Facebook page and discovered that there will be a concert film, VIVA! Hysteria, releasing to theaters (pardon me, "cinemas") this fall as a special event. Get your tickets now at fathomevents.com! The point is that it would be much harder without the Internet and social media to get the word out about such things.)

Another band, of rather a different genre than Leppard, reached out for fan support and got more than they were hoping for. Taking the concept of "preordering" to a whole new level, alternative rockers Toad the Wet Sprocket decided that they would ask fans to fund the making of their newest record, New Constellation, using "crowdsourcing" site Kickstarter.

Crowdsourcing is a means of funding a creative project, by soliciting contributions from those who would like to see the project come to fruition (referred to as "backers" by Kickstarter). Kickstarter notes on its explanatory page that "[c]reative works were funded this way for centuries."

Mozart, Beethoven, Whitman, Twain, and other artists funded works in similar ways - not just with help from large patrons, but by soliciting money from smaller patrons, often called subscribers. In return for their support, these subscribers might have received an early copy or special edition of the work. Kickstarter is an extension of this model, turbocharged by the web.

The video leading off Toad's Kickstarter page explains that "16 years since our last release/We made a NEW RECORD [Yeah, they kinda broke up for a while] No label./No record deal./Just us and you and the music."

Toad then mentions some of the perks that come with this type of support: "extra tracks, vinyl, collectables, live experiences and much more." The various packages offered in exchange for becoming a "backer" exceed what most would consider to be "an early copy or special edition." Aside from the ability to receive or download an advance copy of the recording, those who contribute $50, for example, will get a signed copy of the limited edition CD, as well as a postcard set. More generosity will get you a T-shirt, a vinyl record, concert passes that give you access to the soundcheck ... and those contributing at the highest level of $10,000, are entitled to a Toad set played in their very own living room.

So, under this new model of getting music out there, the fans get what they want (and in some cases more than they ever dreamed of getting); they just have to pay for it in advance. The band gets what it wants too: the funds to do their music thing, and complete control over how, when, and where it is done.

The funding period began on June 5, and after 60 days and 6,000 backers, Toad had raised $265,000, far surpassing their stated goal of $50,000 (no takers for the $10,000 package, however).

By the way, if you missed the Kickstarter party, you can hear one song from the album here. But the rest of it isn't coming out until Sept. 17. (And it appears so far that backers won't betray the artist in whom they have invested by pirating their prized early edition … if you find it somewhere, don't tell me …).  According to reviewer John Foy at Speaker Creatures, it was worth the wait, and furthermore "TTWS has proved an older band can reconnect with their fans, produce, and market a quality album without a major corporate label dictating how it's done. I have a feeling we will see more artists reappear and follow this model in the future. As a fan of music this is an amazing thing."

Choose your takeaway:

1. Toad the Wet Sprocket rocks!
2. Community rules!
3. Copyrights are awesome!
4. The Internet may have caused some musicians or rights holders to lose revenue when people started filesharing or otherwise finding free music to download, but it seems the artists have rallied by finding ways to harness the ubiquity of the Internet for their advantage and made it all work out for everyone!
5. All of the above[!]