“Each shirt has a hang-tag printed with a URL and a unique code allowing the purchaser to download the music from the album.“

So c’mon, other possible ways of releasing an album? Let’s brainstorm!

“Virgin and Universal have signed a deal that will give the ISP’s customers access to “unlimited” music.

For a monthly fee, Virgin’s broadband customers will be able to download or stream as many MP3 files as they want.

As part of the deal, Virgin has pledged to aggressively police usage to stop the MP3 tracks turning up on file-sharing networks. ”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8100394.stm

So we pay a flat fee if we want to download music & that goes to the record company who, I’m sure, will pass it on to the musicians, presumably like subscription radio.

I can see a few problems with this, especially as artists are using the big companies less & partly because downloads aren’t exclusively saleable content but it might be a way forward.

David Lynch has suggested that the digital revolution will bring more freedom to the film and music industries.

The iconic director was speaking to The Guardian about his involvement in the controversial Dark Night Of The Soul project with Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse.

Lynch said: “Sometimes the house burns down and you build a new one. Because the world is so, so, completely backwards and absurd, people think it’s strange or an exception to have freedom to create something.

“It’s ridiculous. The exception should be that sometimes people do not have freedom. What went wrong?”

Danger Mouse said of the project: “The whole idea was to bring little bit more imagination back into music. I’ve missed a lot of that and when I was younger it seemed easier to do than it is now.”

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a160036/lynch-slams-music-film-industries.html