Remember - these funding platforms did not exist a few years ago, and a few years before that neither did 'social media.' What makes me so optimistic is that w

Remember - these funding platforms did not exist a few years ago, and a few years before that neither did 'social media.' What makes me so optimistic is that we're still so early and already thousands (tens of thousands?) of albums alone are getting funded that simply never would have before -- and that's just on kickstarter. I can absolutely imagine a world of 'micro-patronage' where a small monthly contribution (something we see working wonders with http://awesomefoundation.org http://awesomefoundation.org) to an artist you like starts looking like a real income when micro-patrons number in the thousands or tens of thousands. These patrons get access to exclusive, personal content and first dibs on all the art they want said artist to be free to produce. Again, this doesn't work for everyone. None of these will work for everyone. But they're all examples of progress that gets us further from the broken music industry model that preyed on artists like Lester.