In a conventional record company deal, an artist is lucky to get 12 percent of the royalties, she said. Such terms would make for a dramatic shift in the industry's balance of power. Musicians such as Ani DiFranco and The Artist Formerly Known as Prince have preached the benefits of maintaining control of their work and selling it outside the industry structure. The Internet could help. Musicians seeking shared CD distribution can point to MP3 activity as proof that people are interested in what they're doing.
New discs come out every couple of years.
But technology could soon change everything, he said. An artist could release songs one at a time every couple of weeks. An album could have five songs or 50. Some artists are even making dozens of songs available and encouraging fans to compile their own albums. The questions and solutions are boundless.