I don't visit the Marillion web site as often as I should, or I would have picked up on this a few days ago.

When we asked you two years ago to take a leap of faith and BUY an album we hadn't even written, 13,000 of you stepped forward, placed your trust in us, and helped launch an idea that is still being talked about in music industry circles and in the press over two years later, and YOU made this possible.

We are currently in the studio writing and recording our new album (with Dave Meegan in the producer's chair). We think it's our most important album ever and we've decided the time has come to make a big noise about it.

Once again we need a new strategy and we intend to break all the rules and do something revolutionary. We can't do this without you, our fans. We have an idea of what we want to do and we need your feedback because your views are very important to us AND you might have an even better idea!

As you know, with Anoraknophobia we were signed worldwide to EMI Records. We were very happy with EMI's distribution. We were disappointed, however, with EMI's marketing and promotional strategy. In some countries around the world, very little money was spent and so therefore we had no chance of selling records outside of our existing fan base, and sometimes we didn't manage to reach some of those fans either! We have decided we must address this problem before a point in the future where Marillion's very existence comes under threat. As the old saying goes: "If you want a job doing properly DO IT YOURSELF!"

The solution is to "push" (ie promote and market) this band ourselves. To do this takes a lot of money and a lot of promotion. We have the capability to do the promotion but we unfortunately don't have the money...yet.

What they're trying to do this time is not only raise the money to make the album from their fans, but to raise enough money to promote the album by touring, including the US where they haven't visited for years. Read the entire letter for more information on some of the things they're considering doing.

The fan-funded album "Anoraknophobia" was their best release in years; let's hope the new project is as much of a success!