NIN Ghosts I-IV: Amazon's Bestselling Album of 2008 (Was Released Under A Creative Commons License!)

Nine Inch Nail's Ghosts I-IV is the Amazon's Bestselling album of 2008! Ghosts was released last March under a Creative Commons license: allowing anyone to legally copy, distribute, display, and perform the work. The first nine tracks of the album were, and still are, …

Dandy Warhols Attempt Subscription Service

In addition to selling the new album "...Earth To The Dandy Warhols..." on iTunes, the Dandy Warhols are offering it as also as a

NIN Give Away New Album (again!)

Posted on the NIN website over the weekend:
"As a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album

Musicians and Cross-Subsidies (Part 2)

Musicians have been relying on cross-subsides for a long time now (cross-subsidies: not making much money from album sales, but depending on complimentary sources of income in order to earn money and build a reputation).
A NPR interview with The Dresden Dolls from 2007 …

Musicians + Cross-Subsidies

Traditionally, musicians earn very little from CD sales, thereby making it reasonable for them to sacrifice these miniscule royalties for a larger audience, which will in turn generate more income through cross subsidies, or external sources of income--often concert …

Copyright (Part 1) - The Real Poor Man's Copyright

When I was in music school the "poor man's copyright" was often recommend as a way of legally protecting my music. The basic concept is that you mail a copy of your music to yourself, after the package arrives you leave it unopened, and then use the post office's date …

The Trend Toward Free

"Practically everything web technology touches starts down the path to gratis," explains Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of an upcoming book detailing why free is the future of business. He notes that when a tangible product can be …

Reznor vs. Radiohead: Innovation Smackdown

Wired has set up a 10 round "smackdown" between Trent Reznor and Radiohead. Reznor seems to be cleaning up the most votes from fans. One of his more notable accomplishments, "Reznor advised Australian fans to steal his music after Universal priced it at AU$30." As of …

Lawrence Lessig's New Project

Today musicNeutral attended Lawrence Lessig's talk about his new project "Change Congress."
Lessig, who founded Creative Commons in 2001, gave his last free culture speech back in January and has since then refocused his efforts on fighting corruption in Washington. …

Seth Godin's Music Industry Talk

Marketing genius Seth Godin had a talk with some music industry folks a few weeks ago.
He has a great analogy of free music as "dating".
Basically, let the fans listen to your music. See how this first encounter feels (just like "dating"). If it all goes well, then …

The Greatest Band in The World!

People used to say that it didn't matter if you were the greatest band in the world because no one would ever care unless you got played on the radio.
Today there is infinite airtime available on the internet and the game has changed. Musicians are competing for the …

Reznor Has A Business (Not A Job)

Nine Inch Nails's Ghosts I-IV earned 1.6 million in it's first week.
Trent Reznor reported that the earnings came from 781,917 downloads - including both the free and paid transactions. If Trent had went the traditional route of distributing this album through a record …

The Charlatans UK Release Free Album

The Charlatans UK released their tenth studio album You Cross My Path as a free download from the English based radio station XFM's website.
Frontman Tim Burgess explains "We always knew this album was gonna be given away for free, even before we started writing so we …

Nine Inch Nails New Album Available Under Creative Commons

Yesterday Nine Inch Nails released their latest album "Ghosts I-IV" under a Creative Commons license. The album is 100% DRM-free, available in a wide range of formats (Apple Lossless, MP3, CD, Vinyl, DVD, Book) and can be instantly downloaded from www.ghosts.nin.com for …

Is music a product or a service?

Is music a product or a service? At the moment it is both - and I think that is where the problems lies. When a product can be transmitted as information via the web it is no longer necessary for it to embody the packaging it may have once thrived inside. In the case [...]

RIAA hopes to lower songwriter's royalties

Currently, songwriters take in 8

Qtrax And Last.fm: Helping Deliver Us Further From Evil, But Still No Messiah

Music is indeed moving toward free. This idea has been further illustrated this week by Last.fm and Qtrax, who have announced that they are now making millions of major label tracks available for free.
The Good

Last.fm is paying artists each time a track is …

A Letter to Musicians: The Benefits of Free Music

It's a weird feeling, but I'm sick of hearing how Radiohead is "changing the music industry." And it's not because I don't love what they've done, it's because I'm left wondering: Why haven't more musicians started giving away their music?It seems like a no-brainer that …

The Dresden Dolls Make Almost "No Money" From Their Albums

The Dresden Doll's latest album debut at #42 on the Billboard charts, but they seem to make less than they would working at Taco Bell.
A NPR interview from earlier this year with the Dresden Dolls documents just how hard it is for musicians to make ends meet. Singer …

A Letter to Musicians: The Benefits of Free Music

It's a weird feeling, but I'm sick of hearing how Radiohead is "changing the music industry." And it's not because I don't love what they've done, it's because I'm left wondering: Why haven't more musicians started giving away their music?
It seems like a no-brainer …