Brad Sucks, and the Future of Music
Recently, the mighty Atebits posted a preview video of the new Tweetie for Mac Twitter client. I'm beta testing it. It's great. But that's not what this post is about. The preview is here. The music, as noted by Atebits, is Dropping Out of School by Brad Sucks. I like it. But that's not what this post is about either. I thought I'd nip over to the Brad Sucks site and buy the album. What I found was an interesting concept, which just might be the future of music. On the site, you can buy the album for $10. Great price. But then I noticed that you can change the $10 to $5. $2. $1. I felt bad about lowering the price though. I felt like I ought to pay the $10. And then I noticed you can download every track on the album, free, gratis, and for nothing. Below that, there's a block of text that encourages you to steal the album, give it to all your friends, and do whatever you like with it. But the thing is, I still feel like I should pay those 10 dollars. How many other people would feel like that? How many would cough up a few dollars for the time that's gone into the album. But if you want to get it for free, go ahead. Nothing to stop you. So this, my friends, is potentially how all music will work in the future. Trent Reznor's done something similar with the last few NIN albums: you buy the package you think best suits your tastes and wallet. Some are cheaper than others, but the more you pay the more you get. Josh Freese used a very similar idea to Reznor, but took it to another level. Here's what paying $75,000 for Josh's album will get you. The future of music? Maybe. I'm off to listen to Brad Sucks.
0 comments
Leave a comment...
