The artist once again known as Prince was onto something when he sold
his five-CD set “Crystal Ball” exclusively on the Web without the help of
record companies, distributors, or record stores. On his website, he
advertised the album and told his fans he would release not one song until
he had 100,000 pre-orders for the entire record. He sold 250,000 copies and
kept 95 percent of the revenue which industry experts estimate at $5
million.
Via Scripting News, Making money
in a “copyright-free” world.
While I don't agree with the notion that copyrights should be abolished
outright (anyone who thinks so should bone up on their history, especially
France just after the French Revolution) but it is good to hear that several
experiements of direct artist-consumer marketing are working and working
well.
Granted, the examples are big name artists but someone has to take the
risk, and these guys can afford to do that.
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![[The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades]](https://www.conman.org/people/spc/about/2023/1023.t.jpg "The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades")