Blue Note Records has partnered with ArtistShare to create a crowd-funded record label committed to developing new Jazz talent and getting fans involved in the creative process.

The Blue Note/ArtistShare partnership was established by Blue Note chairman emeritus Bruce Lundvall, ArtistShare founder Brian Camelio and current Blue Note President Don Was. The partnership sees ArtistShare provide the platform for fans to crowdfund artist projects while Blue Note assists with promotional support, and potentially provide a path leading to the much-coveted status of Blue Note Recording Artist.

Artists selected for the program still retain full creative control, and all the rights to their master recordings.

“Young artists worldwide are making fresh musical statements left and right, but are forced to do their own marketing campaigns, too, often when their main focus should be their creative output,” said Bruce Lundvall, Chairman Emeritus of Blue Note Records. “I see the ArtistShare business model as a key component of the future music business.”

ArtistShare is one of the oldest surviving crowdfunding platforms on the web. Crowdfunding websites allow artists to post their creative projects online and have fans offer financial support to ensure the creative project is completed; often in exchange of gifts or perks.

While ArtistShare is significantly smaller than larger platforms like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, it has already established a name for itself having worked with critically acclaimed artists such as composer Maria Schneider, jazz guitarist Jim Hall, pianist Danilo Perez and saxophonist Chris Potter. ArtistShare projects have also received numerous accolades, including 18 Grammy Nominations and 6 Grammy Award wins.

Crowdfunding is becoming an increasingly popular way to fund creative projects, with Crowdsourcing.org estimating that global crowdfunding will almost double from $2.7Bn in 2012 to $5.1Bn by the end of 2013.

Film projects in particular have seen particular success, with a Kickstarter to fund a Veronica Mars Movie raising $2 Million in less than 10 hours. The project ultimately raised $5.7 Million from fans of the franchise in just 21 days.

Music projects have also seen incredible crowdfunding success. The most notable example is singer/pianist Amanda Palmer, who set out to raise $100,000 to fund an album, book, and tour, and ended up raising more than $1.2 Million from people all over the world hoping to see her in performance.