Marillion Promises Next Album for Free Download

Alea iacta est or The dice are cast for the music industry as it definitely won’t be the same again with regard to distributing content. Artists like Radiohead, Trent Reznor and others have started this sort of revolution in the way artists deliver their music or whatever art for that matter. The wave-like effect followed – now Marillion plan to make their next album, 'Happiness Is the Road', available to download for free.

The album, which is slated for a conventional CD release on October 20, will be available on peer-to-peer file-sharing sites as well. First time you’ll play the tracks a pop-up box displays, asking for the downloaders' e-mail address.

According to the band, this system is intended as a way to promote gig tickets and merchandise which would recover some of the money lost due to fans not paying for a full album release.
BBC News quotes Keyboardist Mark Kelly: "Everybody's aware of the effect of peer-to-peer file-sharing on CD sales and the music industry in general.

"Up until recently we've felt fairly immune to that because the fans have been really supportive of the band and, I suppose, because of the age demographic, they do tend to prefer CDs to downloads."

Kelly went on saying he still believed fans would purchase the CD when it was released, reminding everyone the Radiohead's success with 'In Rainbows' album which made it to the top of the charts when released the traditional way even though it had been previously made available online.