Juliana Hatfield to Release "Speeches Delivered to Animals and Plants" on August 30th

'90s alt rock icon alert.

Juliana Hatfield, indie pop/rock veteran, inimitable guitar goddess, singer, songwriter and author, is set to release Speeches Delivered to Animals and Plants on August 30th on her own Ye Olde Records, which is distributed by Junketboy. The album is based loosely on the concept of failure. It was entirely fan-funded via PledgeMusic, wherein individuals pledged varying amounts in advance of the album's completion for different returns including Hatfield memorabilia, a guitar used on the recording of the new album, original Hatfield artwork, song workbooks, demos, and more. It was quite the communal effort.

PledgeMusic gives artists the option to build a charitable donation into their campaigns; Hatfield will be donating a percentage of the funds raised to two of her favorite charities: the Save a Sato animal shelter in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, Massachusetts.

Hatfield said, "I really think that PledgeMusic and similar sites are the future of music, especially for people like me who have devoted cultish fanbases but who have never sold a ton of records and don't really fit in anywhere at major labels. Working with this new model, you go straight to the fans, who become your patrons, in a very direct and vital way. They have a special kind of access to you in a way that makes them happy - they see the progress of the album-making in real time with the video and audio updates I post at the PledgeMusic site. And I have total ownership of the music at all stages, present and future. I love working like this."

Track listing:

1. Stray Kids
2. Taxicab
3. Vagabond
4. Sex and Drugs
5. Failure
6. Someone Else's Problem
7. Change The World
8. Batteries
9. Don't Wanna Dance
10. There's Always Another Girl
11. Candy Wrappers
12. Thousands Of Guitars
13. Wasting Time

What do you think of the PledgeMusic initiative?