One of Ireland's most successful musical exports, Duke Special, returns with three unique new projects to be released simultaneously on March 1st 2010 in a box set under the title "The Stage, A Book & the Silver Screen".
1) "The Silent World of Hector Mann" album based on "The Book of Illusions" by Paul Auster - recorded by Steve Albini in Chicago and featuring Neil Hannon and Ed Harcourt
2) "Huckleberry Finn" album. An unfinished musical by Kurt Weill based on Huckleberry Finn - Duke is the first person ever to record this suite of songs
3) "Mother Courage" album - Duke has written the music to a new production of Brecht's "Mother Courage" and has played to 100,000 people at the National Theatre over the last 2 months - the entire production is based around his music and the band's performance. The show is being taken to Broadway next year.
Duke Special will be self-releasing the three albums after raising capital via a unique fan funding model called Pledge Music http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/131
Rather than just putting the records in the shop, Duke Special is offering all sorts of unusual artefacts and experiences for which fans can pledge varying amounts to help raise money to fund the project, rather than relying on a traditional record company advance.
Pledge Music allows artists to raise funds via their fans in form of 'pledges'. In simple terms an artist sets a target for an amount of financing they wish to raise to fund the recording and marketing their new album. The artist then approaches their fans to ask for pledges towards the total in return for participating in an exciting menu of unique items, content and experiences.
The pledges available are tiered so that the fan can pledge one amount for a simple digital download, ranging all the way up to a top tier pledge of Duke Special playing a private concert.
Duke Special's Pledge went live on December 8th, raised £10k in one hour, and in one day reached over 50% of its target.
www.dukespecial.com
www.myspace.com/dukespecial