Wilco embraces P2P sharing and profits for it

Two years ago, peer-to-peer file sharing was still emerging and was usually seen as a scourge in the music industry; stripping artists and their labels of precious money and subverting what we knew as the Industry. Most bands stepped cautiously, to say the least, and deferred to their labels on how to handle this new technology that took the power of distribution and handed it directly to the fans. Most bands, that is…

Wilco saw early on how sharing—and I choose the word sharing carefully—can be good for everyone. Frustrated with their label situation and eager to tour on new music, the band made a strategic decision to join what nobody can beat and began streaming Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in its entirety…for free.

Thousands of fans streamed the album and downloaded it from Napster and Audiogalaxy and wherever else they could find it. It was free. It was available. It was madness. And what happened? Months later when it was finally released, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot debuted on Billboard at #13, the highest chart position of any Wilco release. The fans went out and bought what they already had for free.

Fast forward to two weeks ago: Wilco’s newest album, A Ghost is Born, shows up on Soulseek. How does Wilco respond? By posting the correct order of the tracklisting and releasing the cover art and liner notes. And how do the fans respond to that? They create justafan.org to raise money for a charity hand-picked by the band and craft a statement promising to buy the album when it’s released on June 22, sending a message to the record industry itself. It’s simple and concise and tells the Powers That Be that we, the record buying public, are not the enemy. To date, they have raised $5,607.

Source: Glorious Noise (includes interview with JustAFan.org creators)

What? A band can give away and encourage downloading free music and still make album sales? I guess fans do value quality music after all, especially when given the opportunity.