Editing Marillion (section)

==Crowdfunding pioneers==
Marillion are widely considered to have been one of the first mainstream acts to have fully recognised and tapped the potential for commercial musicians to interact with their fans via the internet, starting in around 1996, and are nowadays often characterised as a rock & roll 'Web Cottage Industry'.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|author=Big George Webley |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep03/articles/marillion.htm |title=Sound on Sound |publisher=Sound on Sound. |access-date=19 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.resolutionmag.com/pdfs/BUSINESS/SELFRE~1.PDF |title=Web Cottage Industry |access-date=19 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809133225/http://www.resolutionmag.com/pdfs/BUSINESS/SELFRE~1.PDF |archive-date=9 August 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The history of the band's use of the Internet is described by [[Michael Lewis]] in the book ''[[Next: The Future Just Happened]]'' as an example of how the Internet is shifting power away from established elites, such as multinational [[record labels]] and [[record producers]].

The band are renowned for having an extremely dedicated following (often self-termed 'Freaks'),<ref name="autogenerated1" /> with some fans regularly travelling significant distances to attend single gigs, driven in large part by the close fan base involvement which the band cultivate via their website, [[podcasts]], biennial conventions<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marillionweekend.com |title=weekend Marillion convention website |website=Marillionweekend.com |access-date=19 August 2011}}</ref> and regular fanclub<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theweb-uk.com/ |title=The Web – Marillion fansite |website=Theweb-uk.com |access-date=19 August 2011}}</ref> publications. The release of their 2001 album ''[[Anoraknophobia]]'', which was funded by their fans through advance orders instead of by the band signing to a record company, gained significant attention and was called "a unique funding campaign" by the [[BBC]].<ref>{{cite news | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/1325340.stm | title= Marillion fans to the rescue | work=BBC News | first=Tim | last=Masters | date=11 May 2001 | access-date=27 March 2014}}</ref> Writing for ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[Alexis Petridis]] described Marillion as "the undisputed pioneers" of [[fan-funded music]].<ref name="petridis">{{cite news | url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/18/popandrock.alexispetridis | title= This song was brought to you by ... | work=The Guardian | first=Alexis | last=Petridis | date=18 April 2008 | access-date=25 March 2014}}</ref>