I think there’s a parallel here between people paying to have someone record and people paying for just about any other product. The underlying idea is that when you buy most products you get the product itself and little else. Here you have Jill inviting people in and letting them have a part of the process. Even if they just gave $5 these people have a story to tell. When they’re listening to the album later (which will probably sound better than anything they’ve heard before since they were a part of making it) they can (and most likely will) tell friends about how they helped to make the album a reality. That’s a great word of mouth story.

How this ties back in with marketing and branding is the idea of selling someone an experience and a relationship rather than just a product. Sure, I could just take your $10 and give you a bag of dog food, but what if I contacted you (with your permission, of course) and talked to you about your dog and how it liked the food and what we could do to improve it. You’d be hooked on that brand because that brand would have invited you in and let you be a part of the process. I think that’s what brands have to do to stay competitive anymore–invited consumers in and make them feel like they’re a part of the process rather than just a customer