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A broken down car and a desperate brainwave in the middle of the night led this singer/songwriter to achieve the first webcast signing in major record label history!
She got her big break via webcam!
Earlier this year 24-year-old Sandi Thom was going about her usual routine of driving across the country to play gigs with her band. She had just driven through the night from one gig to another when her car broke down. Heading back to London with her exhaust pipe held up by a coat hanger she was tired and frustrated and resolved to find a better way to go about things. And that’s when the idea hit her.
The next day she invested in a webcam, installed it in her basement and announced a run of 21 shows to be performed on consecutive nights in the basement of her South London flat. The audience capacity in the flat itself was limited to just six people. But the half-hour shows were to be broadcast, free of charge via her website. The first night, 70 people tuned in to watch, the next night it went up to 670. By the second week she was performing to a peak audience of 70,000.
Record labels quickly got wind of this and began visiting the flat to see the show for themselves. Her intimate, expressive style was impressive and soon record deal offers were pouring in. Thom eventually signed her recording contract live in front of her webcam audience! The company is calling it "the first webcast signing in major record label history".
She has spent half her life singing and writing.
Influenced by soul singers and songwriters like Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan and Carole King, Thom began writing songs when she was 12. At 14, she joined a local covers band called the Residents. The rest of the band were middle-aged semi-professionals, but Thom fitted in fine, playing keyboards, singing and learning a repertoire of classic pop and rock songs. The group's residency at a local bar became a popular local attraction and the band would earn as much as £200 a night between the six of them which was a big amount for the young teenager. Thom is still in touch with her old band and sometimes goes back to the bar and plays a few of the old tunes with them.
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