C&P that Crimea article please JK the link doesn't work - asks you to log in.

Ta

An acclaimed indie band will next month leap into the unknown by becoming the first established act to give away an entire album for nothing in a move which could spark a music industry revolution.
Convinced that changes in the industry and the spread of digital piracy have made it ever more difficult to make money from selling records, the Crimea plan to turn the economics on their head by giving away downloads of their self-financed second album, Secrets of the Witching Hour.

By giving away the album in its entirety on May 13, the band hope to widen their fanbase and ultimately make more money from touring, merchandising and licensing deals than they would from sales of the album.

Despite selling a respectable 35,000 copies of their debut album, Tragedy Rocks, and making the top 40 with the single Lottery Winners On Acid, the band were last year dropped by their record label, Warner Music.

Like its major-label rivals, it is struggling with the structural changes to the record industry and, say critics, is increasingly unable to invest in long-term artist development.

The experiment is being watched closely by the industry and other artists struggling with the conundrum of how to make money at a time when CD sales are collapsing and margins are decreasing as a result of increased competition.

At the same time, live music is booming and there is more money to be made than ever before from merchandising and other spinoffs. "I've been in the business for 25 years and I've never seen a live scene like it," said Steve Taverner, who manages the Crimea along with other bands including Ash.

"We've always strived to get the music out to as many people as possible," said the Crimea's drummer, Owen Hopkin, who has taken on many of the group's organisational and administrative duties. "We want to harness the power of the internet. If it's on there for free we'll reach more people than the orthodox route of selling the record."

He said that younger music fans were falling out of the habit of buying music altogether because illegal downloads were so readily available and music could be sampled so easily online.

The promotional worth of the web has already been proved by a string of artists including the ubiquitous Arctic Monkeys, who rose to prominence on the back of fans swapping early demos online, and Lily Allen, whose ascent up the charts was accelerated by her MySpace presence.

Recently, established bands including the Manic Street Preachers and Ash, and new ones such as the Enemy and Ghosts, have given away single tracks online in return for a name and email address in order to promote upcoming albums.

The free weekly promotional track on Apple's iTunes Music Store is increasingly seen as a surefire way of encouraging fans to sample a new artist. By funding the album themselves, the Crimea will also keep a larger proportion of ticket receipts and merchandising revenue.

The PR, marketing, publishers and radio pluggers working on the record are similarly waiving their upfront fees in the hope of taking a share of revenues further down the line.

It`s worth creating an account Rods, their archiving is excellent.

I know Mart but my database of aliases, passwords and sites just keeps expanding. Sometimes I think I suffer from SSD [site sign-up depression] which is exacerbated by having to check [google the email adds submited] everyone who wants to join our band forum because of all the spam bombers. I deny 20-30 requests a day from spammers.

The Guardian one is ok, 5 fields only, its the ones that go to the second and third page and then a fourth, with a credit card application that I avoid.
I`m unsure about Wikepedia as well, too many tit-bits and not enough journos.