Canadian art-pop singer, Jane Siberry, sells her music through an honor-payment system. The Freakonomics blog points out how her variable-pricing scheme ends up bringing in more cash than if she were to sell it through iTunes. BoingBoing calls her “the gold standard for a digital artist’s business.”

If you’re looking for a [tag]Music 2.0[/tag] business to model, this is the one.

The minute you sign your name, you lose all the rights to your music and you’ll never see a dime.
-Dick Dale

“The King Of The Surf Guitar” has spoken. Forget about becoming famous and become a business man.

Found via Boing Boing

But a few months later, wow. 2700 bands from all over the world have signed up, and four have already reached the $50,000 mark and have recorded albums (Nemesea, Cubworld, Second Person and Clemence, and more are on the way. Mandyleigh, one of our readers, is currently no. 4 on the top list and looks to be headed to the studio soon.

How it works is you upload your music and people listen to it. If they like it, they pay $10. Once you reach $50,000, SellABand helps you record your album with a producer. It’s a unique model. When/If you reach your goal and make the album, listeners who paid for your music get a free CD.

If you can get 5,000 people to “donate” $10 bucks to your cause, then you’ve got an album. Of course, if you’ve got the platform, you might just want to ask for the money directly. But if you’re starting from scratch and you have good music, why not let SellABand help you find some believers.

Table of contents for 2006 Celebrations and Reflections

1. Top Ear Training Articles for 2006
2. Top Songwriting Articles for 2006
3. Top Music Theory Articles for 2006
4. Top Music Hacks for 2006
5. Top Peak Performance Articles for 2006
6. Top Music Business Articles of 2006
7. Top Music Technology Articles for 2006
8. The Best of The Graham English Blog 2006

Learn how to promote and market your music, self-publish your music, and make your music business grow in 2007 with these tips from my top music business articles of 2006.

• Searching For Other Musicians To Play With? Try This…
• WikiMusicGuide
• How to Market Your Music with MySpace
• Your Music Will Sell In Japan?
• Tunecore Puts Your Music Into iTunes And Rhapsody
• What is RSS and Why Do I Care?
• Can You Really Get Your Music Published In Less Than A Week?

Some interesting links while I was away:

MySpace to Let Members Sell Music:
A new partnership will allow indie artists and established rockers to sell mp3s of their songs directly to fans on MySpace.

From Crypto to Jazz:
A new jazz album draws on cryptography and number theory for its riffs and rhythms. Listen to saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa’s melodies with audio clips of digits turned into notes. By Alexander Gelfand.

This is one of those lists that can piss you off! I’d say that it’s a lot more than embarrassing. It’s down right unethical.

From Embarrassing questions for the entertainment industry:

# The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 music fans for file sharing, yet file sharing continues to rapidly increase both online and offline. When will you stop suing music fans?

# The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing, who have on average paid a $3,750 settlement. That’s over $75,000,000. Has any money collected from your lawsuits gone to pay actual artists? Where’s all that money going?

# The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing. Recently, an RIAA representative reportedly suggested that “students drop out of college or go to community college in order to be able to afford [P2P lawsuit] settlements.” Do you stand by this advice? Is this really good advice for our children’s futures?

# The RIAA said that it only went after individual file sharers because you couldn’t go after P2P system creators. After the Supreme Court’s Grokster decision, shouldn’t you stop going after music fans?

Link: Frequently Awkward Questions for the Entertainment Industry

Find out more: Music Business Radio – Weekly Podcast Now Available

Current show features Dez Dickerson. Dez is probably best known as the lead guitarist and musical director for Prince and the Revolution, but has worked with a number of artists including Narada Michael Walden, Aretha Franklin, and Vanity 6.

You will learn a lot about music business and promoting your music!

Warner Bros. is looking to promote bands in virtual worlds.

Warner Bros. Records is looking to create Second Life environments for some of its bands, judging this blog post by its director of technology, Ethan Kaplan. Kaplan writes that he wants to hire “someone who knows Second Life like the back of their hand to create a mini-world type thing for a band of ours.” (via clickableculture)

Also found via Web Idol:

Sony has discovered a new artist not by sitting in a club, but by scanning the Web for talent.

Not only do you have to market your music in this world, now you have to market yourself in the virtual world!

==> http://www.musicforte.com
 
Remember, this is only available to the first 20 people to signup. After that, the cost goes back up to it’s regular $375.  
 
Plan 2
This is very exciting. Plan 2 is an idea that EVERYONE can take advantage of. And it doesn’t require a lot of money. However, it’s not ready yet, and he’s asked me not to reveal it just yet. I can’t blame him for being timid on announcing the solution of moving all Indie CDs. This is a business plan that will surely belong to Music Forte, and you’re going to love it! All I can say is that if you’re working with ANY CD distribution companies, and your CD hasn’t moved – Music Forte has found the solution. All you have to do is join their Gold Plan. Full details will be available within two weeks. But why wait? Check out the outstanding benefits that Music Forte can offer you right now as a Gold Plan member:

==>  http://www.musicforte.com

Good Luck!

Edgeio Tags: Listing

This is a really good article from one of my favorite blogs.
In all cases, there’s more money performing than recording:

Sillerman established himself in live performance, and those stripes shined brightly during the keynote. “In all cases, there’s more money performing than recording,” he said, noting that future artists may create business models that focus on free recordings and paid performances. “Can’t you imagine a millennium-born artist giving away music for free, and selling performances?” Sillerman asked, while reiterating that pre-recorded music will not be a breadwinner moving forward. “The music business does not mean selling recorded music, it means selling music,” he said.

The Future of Music

I really have only one point and I’ll say it in classic headline style…

If You’re Not Blogging Now…
You’ll Hate Yourself Later!

A growing number of trendsetting websites are already RSS-ready. So follow the trend closely.

“Naked Conversations : How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers” (Robert Scoble, Shel Israel)

Just imagine a world where you need to insert your credit card into a reader to be able to flush the toilet at a restaurant, where a userID and password is required to fill your bathtub, and where you secretly trade water jugs of rainwater with your neighbors. This is basically what we have in the music business, now!

Go read this post now:
Gerd Speaks – MIDEM 2006, Cannes

And if you haven’t read The Future of Music, I would do that too.

It’s all about Music 2.0.

Damn the RIAA pisses me off!

Protecting stuff comes from fear. Believing that someone is out to take it, raises the question of what led you to the conclusion that whatever it is has such a potential for destroying your way of life? And since you have reached this conclusion, where did the idea come from to put it on the web?

Excellent point! What’s needed is an abundance attitude. Give away your best stuff first. Build the relationship and you’ll be rewarded. Trust.

Lessig: Is Google Print Fair Use?:

Larry Lessig has posted a video of a presentation on whether Google Book Search (AKA Google Print) is protected by Fair Use. His conclusion: Yup. But how he gets there is fascinating and informative. Why wouldn’t you want to hear one of the nation’s top law professors clearly addressing such a fundamental issue?

Watch Lessig. He’s the #1 man on copyright and DRM in the digital age.

So, first they start off suing their customers, and now they are maliciously making it hard for their customers to even listen to music, and they will cripple your music and media player to boot. These guys deserve to go out of business, they obviously don’t love music, and they don’t understand their own customers. They must have a deathwish or be run by….who? FEMA? Rumsfeld? Bin Laden?

“These guys deserve to go out of business, they obviously don’t love music, and they don’t understand their own customers.”

Amen brother! Check the link because he even has a complete list of CDs to avoid at all costs. Let the boycott begin. read more.

Indie musicians looking for a good deal on digital distribution should look at Tunecore. Its no-frills pledge: “You get 100% of what iTunes and Rhapsody pay! We take NOTHING. Not a penny. It all goes to you. There are NO hidden costs or fees.

You pay a one-time delivery charge of $0.99 per song. There is a yearly maintenance fee of $7.98 per album. If you want your album in International iTunes stores (Canada, U.K./Europe, Japan and Australia) or on the Rhapsody service, there’s a one-time delivery charge of $0.99 per store/service per album.

I also recommend setting up a podcast to talk about yourself and presell your music. It’s a really good model.

Oh yeah, and blog like crazy. Connect to as many musicians in the blogosphere as you possibly can.