Interesting little blow-in in this month’s Vanity Fair:
The ad gets you two free downloads off of John (COUGAR!) Mellencamp’s latest albumn gratis, in MP3 format, and no DRM. I totally downloaded the two songs, but haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet…although I’m sure I will…John’s sorrowful midwestern rooted music has tremendious appeal to me (just like I love a good sad Irish ballad).
I think this shows that giving away something of value (two of eleven or so songs on an album) isn’t a losing proposition, rather it should help drive sales of the album. Like Radiohead’s experiment, I think that the musician’s who innovate with how their music is distributed and sold will be the ones to ultimately survive and thrive in this post-CD world.