So they work day jobs. They apply for loans. Some max out credit cards. And others, like NYC singer/songwriter Kyler, turn to their fans.

"I had so many songs I wanted to record, and money was the barrier," Kyler remembers. "It’s a terrible reason to have to hold back. So I just made the decision that I wouldn’t let it hold me back. I had a pretty large fan base who had singed up for my mailing list, and when they started sending me e-mails asking when the next album was coming out, I decided to see if they would be willing to help me make it happen!"

With some planning, imagination, and a financial spreadsheet, Kyler came up with the fundraising slogan "It Takes a Village to Finish the Record." The instructions she sent out to her e-mail list were simple. Every $25 donation brought an entry into a house concert raffle. The drawing, to be held at the CD release party, would determine who would win a concert in their own home for their family and friends.

Kyler set up different levels of donations, each one with its own perk package. Autographed copies of the CD, sneak peek tracks, posters, T-shirts, and mentions in the CD liner notes were just a few of the offerings.

The response was immediate. While it’s too soon to determine the total amount of donations, Kyler’s $16,000 project, A Flower Grows in Stone, is now finished and almost ready to be shipped out to the eager fans who helped make it happen. As the grateful artist explains, "It wouldn’t have happened without them. It wasn’t like I needed some extra money to do something more in the studio and put the icing on the cake. I needed the actual cake. My fans gave me the eggs and flour!"

Kyler isn’t the only artist taking this grassroots approach to funding. Fellow NYC singer/songwriter Marly Hornik tried it out of desperation when the September 11 terrorist attacks wiped out the money she had saved toward her second project, Say You Do.

"I was making great money working in a bar near the Trade Center," she says. "After that horrible day, I was in a terrible state of shock. I had also lost my source of income. But living through that experience drove home the point that you only get one lifetime, and it made me even more determined to get into the studio."

Hornik’s fundraising efforts, while not as elaborate as Kyler’s, produced the same overwhelming results. She offered potential donors on her mailing list autographed copies of the CD and a thank-you in the liner notes. She hoped to get about a thousand dollars. She wound up with ten thousand. The resulting CD features a string quartet and expert production. It’s a work of art that celebrates the soul of an artist emerging from tragedy with a determination to make every moment and every song count.

As one might expect, fundraising presents legal and tax issues. Los Angeles-based artist Brian Joseph was very careful when collecting donations for his new release, King of Echo Park.

"As far as taxes go, you just declare it as income," he explains, "and small donations really don’t turn out to be a big deal. But the larger donations do involve some paperwork. I offered to let fans buy a percentage point of the album, which is actually part ownership, for a five thousand-dollar contribution. No one took me up on that, and I’m kind of glad, because I would have had to keep track of sales forever and pay the contributor as long as that album kept making money – unless I eventually make enough to buy them out."

Joseph did wind up writing contracts when fans offered him interest-free loans to help him complete the project. "I did have one fan who said we didn’t need a contract, but I wanted to be professional about it," he says.

Kyler suggests other kinds of paperwork as well. "Most of my contributors got receipts because they donated through PayPal on the Internet. Those who sent me checks had their cancelled checks as receipts."

NYC singer/songwriter Edie Carey, who raised about fifteen thousand dollars from her fan base for When I Was Made, stresses the need for communication. "I made sure that contributors understood that this wasn’t the kind of investment in which they would receive royalties or have ownership in the final product."

"But looking back on it," she muses, "that didn’t even turn out to be a problem. The fans who contributed were so kind and generous. I was surprised to get letters from some of them, talking about how excited they were to be able to contribute to an independent project. They were grateful for the experience. It was amazing."

Amazing and, all four artists agree, quite humbling. "I was so careful about asking my fans for money," Joseph says, "and I wound up being touched by how much they wanted to be included. I learned that they appreciate that being an artist is a hard job, and it meant to much to me that they wanted to help."

Expressing that gratitude meant writing lots of thank-you notes as well as providing all the autographs for the promised personalized CDs. Hornik wrote over 100 thank-you notes. Cary wrote over 150. "I’d never signed my name so much in my life!" Carey laughs.

As the dust settles over the coffers and the artists start promoting the CDs their fans helped create, some evaluation is in order. "One thing I’d like to do is follow up with all the people who donated," says Carey. "I’d like to ask them if I was clear enough in working with them and if they had any questions or confusion over the process."

Given the chance to do it over, Kyler would have started the process sooner. "I would have started about eight or nine months earlier," she says. "I was spending most of that time songwriting and touring, really focusing on developing new material. That was very important, but it did distract me from the practical elements of recording, such as the financial aspect."

Joseph would even explore other options. "Ideally, I wouldn’t even have to ask my fans for money," he says. "One thing I didn’t pursue was grant money. That’s a whole other area. I know there’s got to be grant money out there, but I’ve never really investigated. I might even hire a grant writer."

All four artists stress the need for tact when asking fans for money. When listing the different donation levels for fans to choose, Joseph also provided a checkbox that said, "I love you man, but I’m not giving you any money." You’ve got to give them an out," he explains, "and I tried to use humor for that."

Carey agrees. "You don’t want to hound people. Even when sending messages to my e-mail list, I tried to keep the fundraising low-key. I made the tour dates my main message. The fundraising part was secondary. When doing this, it’s important o be humble and polite. Never pushy. You’re asking people for money, which is a touchy subject. I feel so lucky to be making music in the first place, but it’s not the most important thing in the world to other people."