in this age of blatant music piracy, a dubious sin of which i confess i am severely guilty, it is interesting to see how artists and labels attempt to deal with the backlash and keep consumers buying their albums. there is the metallica way, which incorporates gathering the names and ip addresses of fans who download their music online and then threatening to sue them for all they’re worth. there is the red hot chili peppers way, which is to loudly pretend to be upset about the “poor sound quality†when an album leaks instead of the amount of money that the leak might cause. there is the highly recommended joie way (patent pending), which would give fans a discount for tour dates and merchandise if they show that they purchased the hard-copy album.
and then there is the rebellious-art-student technique, aka the beck way, which is to integrate technology into his 
music, in his words by “making an album as an opportunity to do a series of releases – one that’s visual, one that has alternate versions, and one that’s something the listener can participate in or arrange and change.â€Â it’s kind of like using modern digital media to create a customizable album that never ends.Â
 beck’s as-yet-untitled album dropping this fall will be a cycle of songs, remixes and videos that fans can string together anyway they want. he also plans to shoot low-budget videos and release them to youtube – in short, fans will be able to create their own albums and possibly their own music videos.  if this takes off, it will hopefully allow the music biz to make something more out of an album’s release. they could price differently and set up their own distribution path - at a time where consumers can download songs for $0.99 (or free, winkwinknudgenudge), this may be a good direction for artists who need to add value to their records.
see, beck’s a smart kid, not just a musical genius. aren’t we glad we didn’t kill him back in 1994 when he kept begging us to?Â
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i don’t really care about the major label arena. i figure by that point, both bands and their labels make enough money that they should just shut up and roll in their scrooge mcduck money bins.
i’m all about piracy, you know that. it’s just interesting to see good ideas like beck’s that actually attempt to grow with technology and the times instead of fighting against them.
also…never, ever hold axel rose up to me as any kind of model for anything ever again. kthanks.
beck is always one step ahead of everyone else…
i’m pretty certain i heard/read his new album will be titled “the information”…
i saw the video for the first single the other day…beck is still at his finest, i must say.
Maybe Guns n Roses was a bad example. In the case of your indie band they are making $100 a night and $.25 per album sale. At smaller venues the ticket price is arbitrarily set by the owner anyway. Your discount the ticket for buying the album is a cool idea, but I just don’t think its feasable. The only thing those bands control is their merch, and like I said, why would a band give you their bread and butter for pumping money into their labels pocket.
My ultimate point - record sales and ticket sales are totally separate entities driven by different economic pressures. The band doesnt give a shit about album sales unless its from their merch table.
Its a nice idea for the fans though 
i think you are looking at this from the wrong perspective. while bands may not make a lot of money directly from record sales, the sales do affect radio play and media, which affects touring, which affects the band financially. and if it is really true that bands don\’t care about record sales, then why do some of them bitch about downloading and stuff?
but whatever. my point in writing this was not to push my idea, believe it or not. it was to push beck\’s idea. thanks for playing though.
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Comment by Commissar Startastic — August 24, 2006 @ 10:48 am
Your buy the album get into the show cheaper idea would be good for independent bands, but I think it doesnt play out in the major label arena.
Once inspired by Steve Albinis infamous article, http://negativland.com/albini.html, I did some quick numbers for one of the last truly *huge* bands, Guns \\\’n Roses. My numbers showed that each member of Gun n Roses profited about $.25 per album sale. My numbers also showed each band member made something like 20k for one of their stadium shows.
Now if I were Axel Rose (*shudders*) why wouldnt I be more compelled to say, give the music away? I would definately see internet music downloading as a god send. The most I would be willing to give a fan would be that $.25 maybe?
Bands wanting their own piece of the pie is what has driven ticket prices up. And I dont blame them.