Jenny Owen Youngs' Album Fundraiser Nets Over $28,000 From Fans

After two albums with Nettwerk, singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs decided to work on her next record DIY-style. While recording new material on your own isn't uncommon, Youngs needed cash to fund the project and decided to ask her fans for donations.

"I have some friends who have funded projects using Kickstarter, and I kind of got to a point I'm at a crossroads where like I've fulfilled my obligation to Nettwerk as far as a contract is concerned, and I may continue to work with them or work with another label," she tells Spinner. "But in the meantime, I need to make a record, and in order to do that, I need funds. The idea was to give people the opportunity to participate and sort of be part of the process and also for them to have the opportunity to get stuff that otherwise wouldn't be available."

Youngs didn't know how successful using Kickstarter would be and set her goal for $20,000, hoping that she'll make at few hundred at most. However, 28 hours after she created the posting, the musician already hit her goal.

"I really didn't know what to expect," she said. "It was more of the situation where I was lucky to reach the goal just before the deadline. I really am shocked and really moved that people are so willing to step and help me."

While Youngs' fans were more than happy to help the musician out, she did offer up some exclusive swag to donors, including a one-on-one guitar lesson by Youngs via Skype, dinner with the band, her Epiphone Supernova semi-hollow electric guitar and a 'Batten the Hatches' kit that includes copies of the first and second version of the album, even the clothing she wore on the album covers.

But one of the prizes that Youngs wasn't too sure about at first was a set of sexy photos of her. "[Drummer] Elliot Jacobson said he would get his chest waxed if we made $20K in two days so [photographer] Deborah jumped on board and said, 'Why don't we step up the photo shoot and make it like a '50s-style pin-up thing?'" she said. "And I agreed only 50 percent because I felt like it wasn't possible, but I'm going to take one for the team over here, and I'm sure it'll be interesting."

Soon after hitting her initial monetary goal, Youngs now hopes to reach $30,000 by her Aug. 13 deadline. The project has currently raised over $28,000, so it appears she'll be celebrating way before that.