street performer protocol in action

By anders pearson 28 Apr 2003

for their last album two years ago, british rock band <a href=”http://www.marillion.com/“>Marillion</a> asked fans to buy the album before they’d even made it. 13,000 fans did, raising 200,000 pounds to pay for the recording process. for their next album, they’re <a href=”http://www.marillion.com/news/newalbum/index.html”>doing it again</a>.

anyone who’s been following the post-napster music industry and generally thinking hard about how artists will make a living even if their music can be downloaded for free should recognize this as being (very nearly) an application of the <a href=”http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue4_6/kelsey/#k4”>street performer protocol</a>.

i see the fact that marillion has managed to make this work <em>quite well</em> as a good sign that the street performer protocol is a workable and realistic model for the future.

Tags: street performer protocol marillion music industry copyrights