Slashdot Mirror
Internet-based Publishing for Independent Bands?
Cultural Sublimation asks: "My brother's band is putting the finishing touches on their new album. They have published via a small independent label before, but this time they are considering going for Internet-based distribution. They are quite open to fresh ideas: they are even thinking of releasing the album into P2P networks and using the tip-jar model for revenue. It would
also be nice to give people the possibility of
buying online the physical CD with the artwork.
They are therefore looking for a publisher which:
a) won't take away their rights; b) allows for
distribution via P2P (perhaps even providing
a tracker for torrents); c) facilitates the
tip-jar model; and c) allows physical CDs to
be shipped on demand. What are fellow Slashdot
readers opinion on this?"
Plan-It-X records seems to support this kind of thing, as do many other small independent punk/indie labels. Check out any of them like Hillbilly Stew, Dirtnap, etc. At the same time, why not just do it yourself? Trackers are easy to set up, or you can use a public one, it has virtually no impact on a webserver short of just serving the pages (as long as you're not Loki or Demonoid).