Man, this is starting to get routine. R.E.M. is the latest band to release its new album online. TechDirt reports that they've made it available through iLike (a popular social networking application) even before the actual album is physically released.
In some ways this has nothing to do with comics. On the other hand when we get to a world where most major artists control their distribution strategy and routinely premiere their work online for free or otherwise I think the more expected of all artists that will be. That is going to contribute, at least indirectly to the creator-publisher-audience relationship in comics (in all media really).
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Comments
Eh...
Musicians have been doing this for a long, long time. It's just the big-name ones that are starting to get in on the act now.
Remember MP3.com? The original one? That's all it was -- musicians posting their music for free. That predated the "webcomics explosion" by a few years at least.
Good point
Yeah that's a good point -- I guess I really meant "bands on major labels" are doing it all the time now.
I mean, it is a change that some of the biggest bands are basically trying out new ways of distributing their music -- these are the ones that have "it made" under the traditional system, aren't they?
Sort of.
Even back then there were one or two "big label" bands that tried it out, though to be fair they were still considered "deep underground" compared to a band like REM.
It is certainly new that bands like NIN, REM and others are doing this regardless of what their label would prefer. I think at the time there were musicians who wanted to try it but their labels wouldn't allow it.