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

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:55:11 -0800

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, available for download on the band's site. So despite the [...]

Dandy Warhols Attempt Subscription Service

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:49:34 -0800

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!)

Mon, 05 May 2008 14:26:34 -0700

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)

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:57:27 -0700

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 exemplifies the importance of cross-subsidies for musicians. Singer Amanda Palmer explains [...]

Musicians + Cross-Subsidies

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 06:39:08 -0700

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 ticket, merchandise, and licensing profits. The value of cross-subsidizing is already well-known and accounted for in the [...]

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

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 06:49:07 -0700

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 stamp to prove ownership. I [...]

The Trend Toward Free

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:46:12 -0700

"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 effectively distributed as an intangible product, we consume it differently. Production costs become less, [...]

Reznor vs. Radiohead: Innovation Smackdown

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:44:22 -0700

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 my writing this post, the only category [...]

Lawrence Lessig's New Project

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:35:37 -0700

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. Using examples and a fast-paced powerpoint-ish presentation, Lessig pointed to obvious problems that Washington has "failed" [...]

Seth Godin's Music Industry Talk

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:49:41 -0700

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 go on another date. [...]

The Greatest Band in The World!

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:17:20 -0700

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 consumer's attention and the best chance a [...]

Reznor Has A Business (Not A Job)

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:10:10 -0700

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 label the album would have cost fans closer to $15 each, [...]

The Charlatans UK Release Free Album

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:38:47 -0700

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 wanted to make it the best album we've ever [...]

Nine Inch Nails New Album Available Under Creative Commons

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:32:56 -0800

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 a suggested $5 donation (meanwhile, the first nine tracks are available for free [...]

Is music a product or a service?

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:45:28 -0800

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 [...]