Jill sobule has had a hard time with record companies.The singersongwriter has been dropped by MCA and Atlantic, not to mention the two indie labels she recorded for are now defunct. Naturally, Sobule was hesitant about shopping her latest album to another label; but without any money of her own, other options were few and far between.
“The thought of trying to shop it to a label is like going to the dentist for tons of root canals,” she says. “It just sounded like, ‘What a horrible thing to do.’ Plus what are they doing anyway? What do they do now in this environment?”
A record company did not finance Sobule’s latest album, California Years—instead Sobule’s fans funded it. Last year Sobule started a website, www.jillsnextrecord.com, which took in $85,000 worth of donations. “There was always a chance that when I put up the site that it would be like my mom, a couple of friends, and my cousins [donating],” she says, “and that would be it. Everyday I’d wake up in the morning and there would be more donors. It was amazing.”
Donations at certain levels come with incentives: a $10 contribution allows a fan to download California Years, and for $1,000 Sobule will write a donor his or her own theme song. Sobule also performed live at people’s houses for $5,000 donations. “I have to say the people who donated at that level were very nice, but also they had swank pads,” she says. “I don’t think they had to borrow money to get me there.”
And for her contribution of $10,000, a fan sang with Sobule on “Mexican Pharmacy.” “I didn’t think anybody would do it,” says Sobule. “A woman from the U.K., who was so unassuming and wonderful, was not a singer. She just wanted to donate. She came down and we had the best time.”
Despite the unusual journey this album took to get made, California Years is still a typical Jill Sobule album: with catchy melodies and witty lyrics on tracks like “Wendell Lee” and “Where’s Bobbie Gentry?” It also has some personal songs—both “Nothing to Prove” and “League of Failures” speak of her experiences within the music industry. “I think ‘League of Failures’ is more of an acceptance of where I am today,” she says, “and ‘Nothing to Prove’ was [me saying,] ‘OK, now I’m going for it and I’m gonna kick some ass.’ I don’t know how many, but I’m gonna.”
And as a thank you, Sobule recorded “The Donor Song,” the album’s last track, which mentions the folks who gave $500. “I just had them listed not in any other order,” she explains. “That was just like a first take. It was just reading off the names.”
Asked if her next album will be financed the same way as California Years, the former New York resident, who now lives in Los Angeles, says: “I think so—unless somehow my ship comes in. But even if my ship comes in, I would have to have my street team of fans, and I have to figure out how to get everyone involved. Because right now, that’s how you live or die.”
> Jill Sobule
May 13, Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5th Ave.), Brooklyn, 718-638-4400; 7:30, $15.
