Tonight, stars among the likes of Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd will gather at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 58th annual Grammy Awards. While these hitmakers broke into music through a number of unconventional ways—Swift moved her family to Nashville and The Weeknd released a number of anonymous YouTube tracks—a few of this year’s Grammy-nominated artists share a starting story.
Four albums connected to Kickstarter campaigns are up for a Grammy Award tonight. The Brooklyn-based company has spawned a number of Grammy winners in previous years, including Mike Farris’ Shine All The People (Best Roots Gospel Album) and Jo-El Sennier’s The Legacy (Best Regional Roots Album) in 2015.
As a pioneer in the realm of crowdfunding, Kickstarter helps fund creative projects in music, film, stage shows, comics, journalism, video games, technology and food-related categories. The company’s mission is rooted in a model of arts patronage that dates back to the European Renaissance, where artists would go directly to their audience to fund their work. Launched in 2009, Kickstarter has hosted 22,000 successful music campaigns, helping artists raise over $149 million in funding.
These campaigns reach across a wide spectrum of music genres, ranging from rap to indie-rock to music for cats. Running the gamut across multiple categories, here are the Kickstarter projects turned Grammy-nominated artists you should look out for tonight:
Identities are Changeable by Miguel Zenón
Nominated for: Best Latin Jazz Album
This album was inspired by the idea of national identity as experienced by the Puerto Rican community in New York City. The recording was written based on a series of interviews that Zenón conducted with New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent. The score was written for a jazz quartet plus a twelve-piece Big Band, along with a multimedia element that incorporates audio clips from the interviews. In June 2014, the project successfully raised $21,229 from 111 backers.
Descendants of Hill Country by Cedric Burnside Project
Nominated for: Best Blues Album
Created as a testament to the musical traditions of North Mississippi Hill Country, this album encapsulates the best of the blues. The campaign raised $9,850 in October 2014 from 101 backers.
Play by Andrew Norman
Nominated for: Best Contemporary Classical Composition
Composer Andrew Norman’s Play is a 50-minute orchestral work. Premiered in May 2013, Play was the second piece on Norman’s BMOP/Sound record. The album marked the culmination of Norman’s tenure as a composer-in-residence with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, which commissioned Play. In June 2013, the campaign raised $9,525 from 162 backers.
Stroke by Joan Tower
Nominated for: Best Contemporary Classical Composition
The Nashville Symphony Orchestra launched this project in 2013 to record three works by American composer, Joan Tower. The campaigned originally asked for $15,500 and in September 2013, the campaign successfully raised $15,585 from 86 backers.
Tune into the Grammys tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.
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