Announcing the Winner(s) of the Direct To Fan Grant!

The saga of our Direct To Fan Grant has taken many twists and turns. On Thursday, just hours before we were scheduled to announce the winner, we discovered that our judges had delivered us a tie for first place between SONOIO and Tigers That Talked. Alessandro from SONOIO and Owain from Tigers That Talked were both in attendance at SXSW, so we decided to have them each state their case and present their plan live at our event in Austin. We would let the fans choose the grand prize winner by email vote. We live-streamed the presentations on Justin.tv, published a last-minute blog post, Tweeted like crazy, and gave the world 24 hours to choose the winning entry.

Fast-forward to Friday afternoon. In front of a room full of spectators, with hundreds watching live online, Bob Moz announced that we had received over 1,300 ballots, and the winner – by a margin of merely six votes – was SONOIO. But before the audience could even begin to cheer, Alessandro turned to Owain and said “You had a great business plan, and it received a ton of votes. You deserve this just as much as I do. How about we split the prize?” With a glowing smile, Owain accepted. The room erupted in applause. The two winners hugged. Ian cried a little. A double rainbow appeared across the sky, and for one shining moment, the world became a better place.

Seriously though, it was absolutely amazing. We were blown away by the spirit of generosity and companionship in that room. Both artists are the nicest guys in the world, both make incredible music, and both run successful direct-to-fan businesses that should serve as guiding lights for independent artists. They absolutely deserved to win this prize, and we are glad to support them both. Thanks to everyone who voted, to our judges, and especially to all the artists who submitted applications. We saw some very creative and innovative plans, and we encourage you all to strive to implement them. Your entrepreneurial spirit is what will drive this industry forward. We believe in direct-to-fan, and we believe in YOU, so keep up the good work.

Watch a video of the entire D2F Grant saga as it unfolded live: