A well known pop band McFly plans following Prince's move by giving away its new album Radio:ACTIVE with a Sunday newspaper in the UK, the Mail on Sunday on July 20th. The band's intention is to use this method to expand its fan base, since around three million homes get the Mail on Sunday each week. Price's move has turned out to be a complete success with its series of UK concerts all selling out.
While bands generally get just a few cents for each album sold online or in the shops, many actually resort to live performances and merchandise to make a bulk of their income. As a result, some of these bands actually don't mind its fans sharing its music around, since the more listeners a band gets, the more that are likely to turn up at its live performances.
Unfortunately for the record companies, if more bands turn to giving away its music to build up fan bases, the less revenue the record companies get from the remaining bands selling CDs, since income from live performances and merchandise generally bypasses the record companies altogether.
As a result, this move could hit future talent since the record industry will have difficulty investing in new artists. This also comes at a bad time for the record labels with overall album sales on the decline.
