When Nirvana broke, the majors went digging, somewhat cluelessly, for similar underground acts, and some made deals with barely tested indie labels. Now, the dot-coms are mining the same ground. The difference is that they don't really care about finding, much less nurturing, another Nirvana. At the same time, he dismissed similar companies. They want the recognizable names so they can assure Wall Street.
Singles sell for a dollar or two a track, and sometimes less.
But in the meantime, with chump-change prices and users who still expect free music, the songs aren't making them much money. That said, having brand-name music does bring them the traffic that can prove they're a worthy investment. Therefore, it makes sense for them to give indies space on their Web sites or give some labels advances on sales, just for access to the label's catalog. His label signed a non-exclusive deal with CDuctive, which was acquired by Emusic in December. But I like to believe that we have really good bands, and the more people hear them the more they'll be sucked in.