Folk-and-pop singer Jill Sobule kissed a girl and sang about it long before Katy Perry. But Sobule's 1995 hit "I Kissed a Girl" was one of the few she enjoyed as a major-label artist. She financed her latest album, "California Years," in a whole different manner.

How did you decide to finance the album via fan donations? The way the industry is changing, it was time to do something on my own. I have a small but mighty fan base, and I came up with jillsnextrecord.com.

How has this changed things between you and them? I have to say I was pretty into social networking with my fans early on. It's not out of my personality to have a connection with the fan base and have it be real personal.

Tell me about "Nothing to Prove," which describes a fruitless meeting with a major label. I don't want to completely diss the system, because I was pretty lucky and had a couple of semihits for the label and it served its purpose. But that song is a little picture of a few of those meetings. It can apply to everyone in (lousy) jobs on up.