Ari Hest

This guy is a genius.

I first heard him on The Loft on XM. He was doing an acoustic set and hosting it, too.

He talked about his "strategy," of sorts.

In 2008, he released 52 songs. One a week. For those that wanted to download them, they could pay $20 at any point in the year and get all 52 songs.

At the end of the year, he had people vote on their 12 favorites. Those became his album that was available to the general public.

Throughout the year, he even did this thing where he let his fans choose the song titles.

Pretty cool. The guy has a great voice (isn't bad-looking, either), and is a talented songwriter.

I recommed you check 'em out. I'm contemplating buying an album, myself. It's artists like him, that take the creative approach to his work, that I like supporting.