I love his idea on this.  Seems to have worked very well for him, so why not every other “struggling” artist.  Props to him on this venture!

One of my favorite plays, that one. 

I’ll check this out when I get home.

Poor salesman.  I mean, really, they just don’t stand a chance.

Yes!!!,
There are some good artists here, I would prefer to get music this way, knowing the bulk of the $$$ are going to the people that create.

Thanks for sharing.

I LOVE IT! Already downloaded 3 albums.
However I’m a strong proponent of Open Source Christianity - books, music, movies, etc.
Granted I’m not trying to make a living by selling “Christian products.”
I think if I were a musician I would offer a number of free Mp3 downloads at a lower bit rate than you can get on a CD and then still sell traditional CDs with additional material on it that you can’t get via free download.
After all everything I’ve seen and read is that artists make most of their money touring rather than selling CDs and the free music will continue to build the artists fan base - who will in turn buy tickets to concerts and full length CDs.
Well… that’s my take at least

Yeah I saw this in my spam folder the other day, and had to go do a search to make sure it was legitimate.  Isn’t a shame that something like Derek giving away his cd for a limited time could be viewed as not true due to all that has happened in the industry of late?  I got it last night, can’t wait to hear it, and if its good, he can expect a few bucks from me to boot :D From what I read this album of his is quite challenging, and that’s something I’ve grown to love about his lyrics.

Maybe its just me, growing up with the ‘top 20’ Christian radio station in my back yard, some groups eventually got old.  Not that the music wasn’t good, just that spiritually I have matured to the point where I don’t need as much milk in my music as I do real meaty lyrics.  Derek Webb seems to be a meaty kind of song writer, and that’s what I love about his work.

At last my search for that classic “Brother Henry” is over

That’s a good site. I recently used it to download Katie Herzig’s CD (via the tell-a-friend-method, ‘cause she’s a yet-unproven artist, though it didn’t take long for her to prove herself, so I shall purchase the physical CD at some point in the near future) and Sixpence’s new EP (I just paid the suggested $4, which is $1 per track, since I already trust them implicitly to put out quality music).

I’m sure that a system like this could easily be taken advantage of. There’s no guarantee that the tell-a-friend method will actually generate significant word-of-mouth (people could just put in variants of their own Email address - I actually did this to avoid spamming friends about an artist I wasn’t sure I was willing to advertise yet, and I plan to make up for that by positively reviewing and blogging about the album, which more than 3 friends will read), or that people will choose to pay more than paltry sum to download an album. But with the type of music being offered, it’s generally the more independent-spirited sort of stuff that is sought out by people who respect the artists and figure they ought to be compensated somehow for their work, rather than the type of stuff that the dude who would just download a catchy single from (insert file sharing service here) and not even care to listen to the rest of the album.

Am I being overly idealistic here? I certainly don’t think this approach would work for every artist, but I think it’s admirable to see these guys trying it out. As long as it doesn’t mean the eventual death of the physical CD. As cool as it is to download something and have it show up on your hard drive almost immediately, there’s still a sense of satisfaction that I get from holding that physical CD in my hands, and having it sitting there in my big book o’ CDs that passengers in my car leaf through to get a feel for what kind of music I’m into. It’s a silent, effortless endorsement of whoever’s in there. Most people who visit my house aren’t going to be perusing my hard drive, after all.

So, are you working on anything new, and if so, do you think that a method such as this would be a good way to get your music out there independently of a record label? Or is that a harder risk to take when you have mouths to feed and backs to clothe after they come in dripping wet from playing in the rain?