So, I can’t say that I’m a huge Saul Williams fan when he does solo stuff (though I am a big fan of Mr Nichols and a few others he’s done) but he seems to be a clever guy since he’s adopted a similar tactic to Radiohead for his latest album release:

EDIT - I tried to embedd the nifty little widget that you can get the code for from the Saul Williams site but it broke my blog. Turns out he’s not as clever as I thought!! If you’re going to implement, make sure you implement well.

Hat tip to DeanI think this business model scales well and I think that we’ll see many many bands and artists adopting a similar approach to releasing music. What this means of course is that a whole new industry opens up for online PR/internet marketing for artists and bands.

I mean, once everyone is releasing music this way there’ll be the need for good music aggregation sites so you can easily find the music which you like. Someone like last.fm would be well placed to release or partner with this kind of service since they already know my music preferences. Once these portals are in place there will be the need for MEO (music engine optimisation) to ensure that your album gets as much exposure as you can.

Viral marketing will also play a huge role in spreading the word about album releases. Watch this space!