Recently
National Public Radio did a story about this. The two performers they
cited were
Steven King and
Marillion--the latter have raised over
100,000 pounds by
pre-selling copies of their
new album that they're currently
recording. They have promised all buyers a special 2 CD edition of the album,and their names in the
liner notes. They were able to raise enough money to
shop around for a
record contract and get a
better deal because they no longer need an
advance to pay for
recording. This is not actually the Street Performer Protocol since the work will not be released into the
public domain, but NPR seemed fit to think the idea of asking for money before the project is finished was at least similar.
Certainly with all the hubbub about digital media and Napster and all that stuff, the idea that people will actually pay for art because they want it is a radical one. But it will work for some people.