I’m all for new any new distribution model in music. Whether it’s DIY or MySpace or whatever I’m happy to support artists who are creating music they believe in and trying to get it out into the public to be heard. I also believe the massive shift that’s necessary in the music biz is very late coming into the station. It may be getting close, but people still don’t know which platform or where it’s headed.  The different aspects of the music business are now fully interconnected and it’s much easier for an artist to be totally self-contained. Although it still isn’t easy for a kid with a batch of cool songs to pay for a colorful billboard on Sunset Blvd, her music can actually reach many more people. And, unlike a billboard crying out to thousands of motorists who ...

FREE! Except for a few record companies in the ‘80s who’d actually ply you with crapola to listen to their incredibly lame artists, you can’t find a better deal.  Now, to hit all the clichés up front: “there’s no free lunch” (actually I think there are, but sometimes you have to buy a beer), “just because it’s a bargain doesn’t mean it’s worth anything” (but it doesn’t mean it’s not, either) and “you get what you pay for” (no, actually you get what you can carry away… whether you pay for it or not is another matter). That was just to get the whole financial aspect of Nine Inch Nails latest, The Slip, out of the way because debating Trent Reznor’s motives for releasing it in this manner means very little. He’s done it, it’s out for everyone to experience, and that’s ...