The popular band Radiohead (maybe you've heard of them?) will be selling their newest CD, at least initially, as a digital download from their website. Unremarkable. Except for this: they're taking any payment for that download. Not any form of payment -- any amount of payment. They give you the files, you give them whatever amount of money seems appropriate. No limits in either direction.

Revolutionary.

We don't yet know if the files will be DRM-free, but imagine people putting all their creative efforts into the creation of sound -- then giving it away without restriction, and asking only for donations in return. Throwing their work out into the digital ether without promise of compensation. Rolling the dice and feeding peoples ears (and minds) without certainty of feeding their own mouths.

Starting to sound familiar at all?

My kudos to Radiohead for jumping on the bandwagon ;).

While you're waiting for that new Radiohead record, and if you haven't already... please donate to support The Sound of Young America.

As the rock and roll guys put it:

Well, I just held the virtual drawing for our pledge drive prizes (it involves a random number generator, a Cray Supercomputer and a copy of Microsoft Excel 2000), and I'm proud to
announce our drawing winners!

Congratulations to Matt Hill, Patricia Reed, Josh Arcurio, Andrew Batten and Laura Gastel! You won a custom hobo illustration from Ape Lad (aka Adam Koford). Adam's now doing monkey illustrations, so you're getting his historic FINAL HOBOES.

Congratulations to David Shumka, who won a copy of Kasper Hauser's brilliant book.

Congratulations to Troy Coll, who wins an inscribed copy of Hodgman's hilarious compendium of knowledge.

Congratulations to Margaret Cross, who won our GRAND PRIZE, a complete DVD box set of Get Smart!

And thanks to everyone who gave during the pledge drive. I've got a brand new field recorder and a much-needed hard drive to show for it already.

Almost certainly so. Thanks to Drew and to all of the folks who donated in the pledge drive. A couple of folks emailed me to ask if they can still donate: yes, of course. You can always donate. And I'll enter anyone in the drawing who donates before I actually do the drawing (though that shouldn't be too long from now).

Wow, this pledge drive really exceeded my expectations, and I thank you so much for your support.

Here are some more folks that gave:
Carol M, Jacoy Y, Matthew H, Ellen S, Patrick M, Aniruddah C, Matthew F, Ian M, Jeff, Emily T, Tim H, Marcia L, Eric F, Patricia R, Andrea K, Michelle B, Michael M, Steven C, Kon S, Roy B, Brian D, Guy W, Andrew K, ACCPicks, Anders O, Kyle B, Steven I, Chris W, Ben E, Michelle K, The Burnside Review, John R, Nate H, Kathi G, Matt B, Amy R, Rick P, John P, Bryan E, Scott M, Bryce B, Margaret C, Adam B, LW, Mark I, Ron D, Megan B, Adam S, Harold C, Jeffrey T, Fred C, Matt B, Jason S, Josh A, Jeffrey G, David B, Katie W, Ted H, Paras M, Brian G, Simon F, Paul L, Jude L, Matt M, Brian D, Patrick K, Lance G, Gary B, Brenton F, John Day, Ian B, Jeremy Q, Andy Harwood, Emily H, Adam H, Jason H, Elisabeth R, M Jeffrey B, James O, Brian G, and Ann B.

I tried really hard not to miss anybody, but I was doing this by hand, so if I messed up and left you out -- thanks to you, too.

And of course, thanks to the folks who've been giving for months before this. All of you, your support has been really essential, and I thank you.

MaxFun Drive, our little pledge drive, ends at midnight tonight. Thanks to the many folks who've committed to supporting the show so far -- I feel like this has been an unqualified success.

If you haven't yet pulled the trigger, there's no time like the present. We're of course giving away lots of cool prizes, but I know that there's an even better reason to support maxfun: you care about the shows, you care about this blog, you care about this site, you care about independent media.

There are support levels large and small. It's the last day of me begging (thank goodness), so please donate now.

Today I'll put out the last TSOYA will a pledge plug, and I want to thank some more of the good folks who've given so far...

My thanks to: Ramsey E, Yakov K, Tyler M, Cara C, Chris V, Steven T, Lee M, Trevor A, Jane L, Jeremiah D, Charles M, Brian M, Robert C, Peter H, Finn M, Dana D, Marie D, Laura G, Neal M, Matthew H and Chuck B.

If you'd like to join these good people in giving to support the show, just click here.

Not only does EVERYONE who donates get a prize, you'll also be entered to win some super cool prizes, like a DVD box set of Get Smart, an autographed copy of John Hodgman's Areas of My Expertise, a copy of Kasper Hauser's SkyMaul, or one of FIVE personalized hoboes illustrated by Ape Lad.

Please give now.

Wow!

Our first-ever MaximumFun.org pledge drive is going really fantastically well. We're giving away a bunch of prizes, including t-shirts, hobo illustrations, a copy of SkyMaul and a copy of The Areas of My Expertise, and a DVD box set of Get Smart. We're also getting lots of listeners stepping up and becoming supporters of maximumfun.org. And, of course, they'll all get Maximum Fun Packs in the mail, with their own Maximum Fun Club cards and more.

So far we've had (by my count) 34 new pledges -- most of which are monthly commitments. I want to thank the following folks for supporting the show thus far:
Sarah Z, Kyle H, Margaret H, David B, Craig S, Edward M, Mike D, Jeff M, Ayesha M, Marylee R, Reena R, David S, Guan Y, Tim A, Mark M, Scott S, Justin Z, Tom S, Brian S, Adam L, Nicholas L, Adam K, Chris F, Elias G, Matt A, Maryam M, Kristen S, Neal S, Elisabeth C, Zack S, Carol M, David L, Mason P, Daniel S, William R, Keren K, Rachel L, Charles F, Alex T, Ben W, Derek H, Joseph C, Aaron M & Linus B.

Not yet a donor? You still have time. I'm absolutely committed to keeping this drive to two weeks, but there's still a full week left.

If you haven't yet given, what's holding you back? Just haven't pulled the trigger yet?

Donate now.