While there is a lot of discussion going on in the music industry and their related trade groups on how best to keep screwing the consumer there are musicians that seem to have no problem making money in this new world of distribution. Trent Reznor while among the first to really publicize the different ways that musicians can utilize the web and the idea of free to earn a living he isn’t alone.

One other artist, one of my favorites, has found that even giving away a hit single for free has helped with the sale of that same single. The musician is Moby and as he pointed out in an email to Bob Lefsetz, a well known name in the music industry, the fact that he was giving the song away for free had turned into a chart topper.

How’s it going?
The album just came out and it would be #1 euro charts if not for michael jackson re-releases.
So that’s good.
But here’s something funny: the best selling itunes track is ‘shot in the back of the head’.
Why is that funny?
Because its the track we’ve been giving away for free for the last 2 months and that we’re still givng away for free.
Odd.
How are you?
Moby

Way to go Moby.

hat tip to Techdirt and TorrentFreak

Musicians could teach the music industry a lesson or two is a post from: The Inquisitr

Recently, the RIAA won a court case that saw a suburban mother fined for $2,000,000 for downloading a handful of songs off the internet and listening to them.

There has been a lot of outrage over the case and others like it in the past, but this time a prominent artist speaks out about it.

In a blog post in reaction to hearing about the afforementioned case, Moby says:

“argh. what utter nonsense. this is how the record companies want to protect themselves? suing suburban moms for listening to music? charging $80,000 per song?

punishing people for listening to music is exactly the wrong way to protect the music business. maybe the record companies have adopted the ‘it’s better to be feared than respected’ approach to dealing with music fans. i don’t know, but ‘it’s better to be feared than respected’ doesn’t seem like such a sustainable business model when it comes to consumer choice. how about a new model of ‘it’s better to be loved for helping artists make good records and giving consumers great records at reasonable prices’?”

Amen.

[Props: Moby’s Blog

Moby Says “the riaa needs to be disbanded” is a post from: The Inquisitr