“I think free music downloads has been very important for a long time” says Jim Guerinot, talent manger whose clients include, among others, the rock band Nine Inch Nails. The band itself oversaw the ‘leaking’ of a number of tracks from its 2007 album ‘Year Zero’, the last one produced with a major-label.
This year Nine Inch Nails have gone one step further and released their latest album entirely free. Free music downloads is definitely alive and kicking.
The Nails’ move comes after 2007 saw Radiohead partake in some free music downloads love with their “In Rainbows”; 2007 also saw the introduction to the fray of We7, a free music downloads download and streaming service for which, rather astonishingly, Sony has agreed to provide its entire back catalogue.
But feelings on the results of free music downloads are mixed; Radiohead’s Thom Yorke recently told a paper that his band’s pay-what-you-want offer was a one-time thing. “I don’t think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again”.
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