Maria Schneider and Artist Share

Maria Schneider, the genius jazz arranger and composer, was interviewed by KMUW's Barry Gaston Friday night. Gaston does a a five-night a week 7-9 jazz program for the Wichita State University PBS station. On Fridays he does an extra hour which 2-3 times a month features an interview with a leading jazz artist.

The music was interesting as always, but I was especially fascinated by the new model for using the web to support creative artistry.

Her first CD was self-financed and eventually leased to the European Enja label. It cost here $25,000 to make and she lost thousands of dollars. The second was financed by Enja, but hasn't yet made her any money. Her latest CD, Concert in the Garden, cost $100,000 to make.

What Schneider has done is to use Artist Share which desctibes itself as " an innovative new business model for creative artists. ArtistShare completely empowers artists in ways that they could only imagine just a few short years ago. Through ArtistShare artists are able to develop a strong and loyal fan base world wide. Finance their projects through their fan bases and in the end, own the rights to all of their work."

You can order the Schnieder's new CD for $16.95 ( MPG downloads even cheaper), but if you want to really support this great artist you could sign up to be a Composer Participant for $81.95.

This offer now includes the limited edition 'Concert in the Garden' CD. Composer 'Plus' Participants receive exclusive access to score samples for each piece, sound clips from rehearsals, my own personal comments about the pieces, recording, mixing and editing phases of the record. Much information has been posted and there's more to come.

You receive streaming access to the series of four Hunter College discussions which occurred February thru June 2004.

You also receive exclusive access to a streamed discussion and in depth analysis of the music from my CD Evanescence. All Composer 'Plus' participants receive downloadable mp3 files for each track on Evanescence.

This offer is geared towards professional and aspiring composers, players, conductors, etc. however I am sure it will be an interesting experience for any music fan as well.

The Composer 'Plus' participant is a 'participant listed offer'. Each member (or any name of their choice) will be credited on the final project page as helping to make this project possible.

Jim Hall, Danillo Perez, and Trey Anastasio are other artists who are using Art Share.

Please take a look at Maria Schneider's website. If you're not a fan already, I predict you will be. And you'll probably become an admirer of Artist Share, as well.