Radiohead may have started the trend, and The Charlatans then got in the act, but Marillion are the latest band to have decided to embrace the Web and give away their new album. Happiness Is The Road is to be a free download on file-sharing sites such.
This deal is different than the Radiohead offer for In Rainbows, where fans were asked to pay what they felt was suitable for the new album. The new Marillion album will be available as a completely free download, with the only catch being a pop-uip box asking file-sharers to give the band their email address.
The supplied address would then allow Marillion to contact these fans, both new and old, with details of upcoming gigs, merchandising offers, and news on what the band is up to next. Which isn’t too much of a compromise for getting a full album download for free in return.
The band also expects this plan to work as while new fans may be gained by giving material away for free, the long-time fans will likely buy the album when it gets released on physical formats on October 20th. Keyboardist Mark Kelly told BBC News:
“We’re willing to try new things and we want to see what happens. Everybody’s aware of the effect of peer-to-peer file-sharing on CD sales and the music industry in general.”
“People forget Radiohead were still number one in the album charts. They also say they weren’t very successful because they only got an average of £2 per download. But they wouldn’t have got £2 per sale from [record company] EMI, so in those terms it was actually a big success, and they still sold CDs.”
This is no doubt a risk, but the reasons for doing it seem to outweigh the reasons for not doing it. Certainly, with a band such as Marillion, who have a very loyal fanbase but aren’t likely to be picking up any new fans these days, the chance to connect with a younger fan base can only be good. There’s also the publicity to consider.
Marillion have been around since 1979, so for them to embrace the Web and file-sharing of their music in this way, it shows that both new and upcoming, and well-established bands can experiment with new methods of distribution. Now if only record companies could realise the potential in the Internet, we could have something.
[Photo Source: Maurizio Bonomi at Flickr]
[...] New Marillion Album Free On P2P Sites Radiohead may have started the trend, and The Charlatans then got in the act, but Marillion are the latest band to have decided to embrace the Web and give away their new album. Happiness Is The Road is to be a free download on file-sharing sites such. (Britmusicscene) [...]
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