Here’s the deal: I understand that in the past, these folks made their money by figuring out how many different ways they could charge for the same transaction.What they need to understand is that if they want to make money in the economy we now live in, they’ve got to create new things to charge for, not new ways to charge for the same stuff.

Take, as an example, Derek Webb’s latest album launch (note: I still haven’t heard this album. This is simply a discussion of the business wisdom behind it). You can go to a store and buy it, probably for somewhere between 12.99 and 24.99, depending on the store. His label will get paid, and will eventually pay him a pittance.

You can also go to his store. He offers six different ways to buy his new album. There’s a digital download for 7.99, there are options if you want to pay a little more (15.99 gets you a documentary, ringtones, desktop backgrounds, etc, along with the album, and there’s a $60.00 package that comes with the digital copy, two physical copies of the album, the documentary DVD, a t-shirt, and participation in song selection for a cover album). Derek has gone the extra mile to be accessible to every fan possible. Don’t have much cash? Buy the digital download, hear the music, and hopefully love it. Have money and love the artist? Get all the extras.

And, he’s already seeding the concept of his next project. People are going to help him select songs to cover. He’ll then record the covers and put together the album. And then he’ll sell it.

Think about that whole process. What are the chances that someone having invested their time into selecting the songs would turn around and not buy the resulting album? Those people are going to buy. So, Derek builds community, gives his fans a chance to buy extras, and guarantees that his next project (side-project, most likely) will have guaranteed buyers. It’s brilliant!

He’s likely going to make more doing it this way than if he sat back and tried to figure out how to bill the establishment for it three times.

All that to say, the economy has changed. Music publishers, take the warning. Help your people to understand how to sell in this economy. Can you make money in this economy? Absolutely. You just can’t do it the way you used to.

I love listening to albums that are albums. MP3 players, Itunes, winamp, and all those other convenient things with those shuffle buttons have kind of ruined albums for us. We hear whatever song randomly comes next (or, in the case of Itunes new Genius function, whatever song they think sounds good to follow up the song you’re listening to). We don’t usually sit down to listen through an album; we let music be the background we do things to, and we don’t exactly catch any continuity.

So, sometime this week, turn off the shuffle feature and listen to an album. You might find that the artist put some thought into the direction that the songs take you. That’s the sort of stuff that makes an album worth paying for.