Sense At Last ?

[GhostShip]

It seems at least one well known name is cashing in on a non-label deal, that will see the revenues split between a mobile phone  company and himself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4652463.stm

Artists such as Andy Cato, whose band Groove Armada is known for hits such as Superstylin', see this as an opportunity to sell tracks to fans quickly, without relying on a record label.
As a solo artist, he is free to make his own music deals, although Groove Armada will continue to make records and tour together.
It means he will get a far greater share of the revenues, which will be shared with O2.
"With labels, it is impossible to calculate how much you get per song," he explained. "When you do, you weep."

Cato is going to offer two tracks a week for download to mobiles from Friday 8 July, costing £1 each.

This seems more like the way it should be in the digital age, its no longer necessary for talent to go to studios costing thousands of pounds per day to make decent music as technology has moved on in leaps and bounds, even in the 80,s there where artists that did most of their work in a home studio and sent the material to the studios for mixing and production, this can now all be done with the right software, bringing the new age of the musician who actually gets paid for their work, today and tomorrrow , not in 2 or 3 years if they sell enough albums.

[GhostShip]

This is more in the spirit of how the artist/band should prosper.

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/index_html#070805indie

In addition to non-exclusive contracts, indieburn.com also offers their artists "a 50 percent cut of the gross profits, which is unheard of in the record industry." That contrasts sharply with major labels and most online music stores, who collectively take a much larger chunk of download revenues. Indieburn full albums sell for $8 each, with only select singles available. "It is important for music fans to discover artists…not singles

I hope Indieburn are doing their bit to market the folks who sign up with them, as I,m sure they will appreciate that this tactic over time will bring them a massive share of the market, artists have been crying out for a good deal like this and I,m pleased someone is finally helping them get what they should have in the first place , I still think 50% to the marketers is a little high but the market needs to be brought to the table with new ideas like this and its a start in that direction.