I've been a recording artist for nearly 40 years, with top-selling songs such as "Society's Child," "At Seventeen" and "Jesse." Six months ago, I began offering free downloads of my songs on my Web site. Thousands of people have downloaded my music since then -- and they're not trying to steal. They're just looking for music they can no longer find on the tight playlists of their local radio stations.What I've been telling them all along.
That's how many artists gain new listeners these days -- through the Internet.
After I first posted downloadable music, my merchandise sales went up 300%. They're still double what they were before the MP3s went online.
Crap quality 128k ripped tunes are NOT taking sales away. Was on Kazaa over the weekend and bounced around some pop tunes...it was hard to even find a 128 rip..most were even worse quality. Sorry...listening to that through even crap walkman headphones is >painful<...worse than AM radio.
The reason I'm not buying...is because they're not selling anything that I want (one) and when they do they're charging to damned much (2).