"Jazz composer Maria Schneider took home a Grammy on Sunday for her album "Concert in the Garden," without selling a single copy in a record store.
Schneider, 44, financed her Grammy-winning album through an Internet-based music delivery service called ArtistShare that opens the financing of production to dedicated fans.
Schneider said she believed she might be the first artist ever to win a Grammy for an album distributed solely on the Web. But she said that other musicians had already approached her about trying similar experiments of their own."
Joi Ito observes:
"In a recent meeting with some studio execs, to the question of whether they had ever seen any "real" music come out of Internet based alternative production models, they laughed and said no. To the question of whether it was possible in the future, they made a "unlikely" gesture. If getting a Grammy doesn’t constitute a recognition of "real music" I don’t know what does. I hope they don’t miss this stunning example of their misguided arrogance.
Lastly, as we noted Tuesday, more people watched the Housewives than the Grammys.
Oscar envy, anyone?
Sources:
Web only album wins Grammy
Reuters, February 13, 2005, 7:55 PM PST
http://news.com.com/Web-only+album+wins+Grammy/2100-1027_3-5574470.html?tag=nefd.top
Web only album wins Grammy
Joi Ito
February 17, 2005, 15:16 JST
http://joi.ito.com/archives/2005/02/17/web_only_album_wins_grammy.html
