Musician turns to fans for help with new disc

CNN reports:

In making six CDs, singer Jill Sobule has worked for two major record companies that dumped her and two indie labels that went bankrupt beneath her.
Sobule

For $5,000, Jill Sobule will not only give you a CD -- she'll play your home.

Now she's turning to people she can really trust -- her fans.

Sobule, whose witty and poignant writing first attracted attention with the song "I Kissed a Girl," has set up a Web site asking fans to donate money so she can make a new CD. She set a goal of $75,000 and, in a month, she's made about $58,000 as of midday Tuesday.

She's another example of a musician taking control of her career as the business crumbles around her, and doing it with a unique sense of humor.

Contributors can choose a level of pledges ranging from the $10 "unpolished rock," which earns them a free digital download of her disc when it's made, to the $10,000 "weapons-grade plutonium level," where she promises "you get to come and sing on my CD. Don't worry if you can't sing -- we can fix that on our end."

For the $500 "gold level," Sobule will mention your name in a song, maybe even rhyme with it. The $750 "gold doubloons level" is "exactly like the gold level, but you give me more money."

The brave new world of music.