Derek Webb, American musician, explains why giving music away for free may be better than selling through iTunes and Spotify:

On Twitter, I recently said, “I make more money giving records away on @NoiseTrade (in exchange for info) than selling those same records on iTunes (let alone Spotify),” which resulted in some pretty interesting discussions.  I said that in response to questions I received after criticizing streaming services like Spotify, which claim to offer a viable alternative to “piracy,” when in reality they offer artists almost no meaningful revenue or fan connection.  And while iTunes is certainly a better financial model and more equitable for artists, it does almost nothing to connect the fans to the artists in a way that yields any long-term benefit.

His point is very interesting. It’s well worth reading the rest of the article.

I think the big players in the music business are reluctant to switch to his approach, because it would mean the end of how they are used to do business and potentially less money to be made. Profits have already dropped anyway so taking another route should be their priority.