The Invention of Crowdfunding (A Circuitous Tale of How Marillion, Their Crazy Fans and I Accidentally Upended the Music Industry)

The Invention of Crowdfunding is half tech-history and half memoir. Jeffrey Pelletier is widely considered the inventor of modern internet-based crowdfunding for his creation of the Marillion Tour Fund in 1997. This book chronicles the events that led to UK progressive rock band Marillion's fans banding together to bring their favorite group across the Atlantic to tour North America in an unprecedented and historic act that changed the way most bands function in the music industry to this day. This event later led to the first album pre-order campaign, conceived by Marillion's keyboardist Mark Kelly for their 2001 album Anoraknophobia. In addition, this book has many nostalgic stories from the formative years of the author's life interspersed within the chapters of the main crowdfunding narrative. These personal snapshots help the reader get to know the author as the arc of the story reaches a life-affirming conclusion. The book includes contributions by members of the band (Steve Hogarth, Pete Trewavas and Mark Kelly) and others, as well as additional supplemental material. This book comes in a blue cloth hardcover edition with a dust jacket featuring the gorgeous Marbles blue skyline Neverland artwork. Printed in premium full color on 70 lb. quality paper.