Paul McCartney’s previous album, Memory Almost Full, may have been, in so many words, complete garbage, but you have to give credit to the man for his latest endeavor, a new album from his electronic-ish band The Fireman. The album Electric Arguments is available as a DRM-free download from the band’s official site. It’s in a bunch of formats, too, including MP3, FLAC and Apple Lossless; for a few dollars more they’ll even throw in a CD. (Sounds a lot like what Nine Inch Nails did several months ago, right?) And, if you’re not too sure that you want to spend $9 of your hard earned dollars on Mr. McCartney’s side project, you can listen to the entire album on the site via a Flash player.
Above all, it shows that “mainstream” musicians are finally getting it, that digital downloads aren’t inherently evil. DRM-free is a welcome bonus, too. It also makes AC/DC’s decision to release its album exclusively at Wal-Mart seem all the more weird. They didn’t even so much as release it on iTunes.
via Slashdot
LOVE the idea…more musicians need to get in tune with this idea (pun intended). It sends a clear message to your audience that you care about the music, as well as your profits. I know iTunes is close to launching DRM free music, which is an excellent idea as well.
the fact that he actually IS NOT AFRAID of it , shows that he calls himself a musician not because he sings because he cares about music and the way people get it, is not a problem.
I concur with lillie. It’s the music that’s important to the musician. And most of their revenue may come from other sources that said music incites (Just take a wild guess at the earnings NIN might be doing with their awesome show).
Compare the sales/billboard positions of the AC/DC album and the Fireman record… then tell me how weird it is.