Alternative Music Distribution

Much has been written about the current state of the music industry. We all know that artists in all stages of their careers are trying to take advantage of the new methods of music distribution as the old ones move toward extinction.

Music is not free, but it might as well be the ways things are going. I'm not saying that's a good or bad thing, but I wonder how musicians who used to make a living off of recorded music will move forward. Many bands were able to survive in the past by putting out albums without performing live. Coil didn't play live for over 15 years, selling underground records instead, often as limited editions. The Beatles stopped playing concerts years before they broke up while continuing to release amazing music. Do you think Magical Mystery Tour would have sounded different if The Beatles knew they would have to play the songs live in concert after the record came out?

I recorded 3 albums as Hypha starting in 1996 under the PFU Productions label. We didn't sell any copies. That didn't matter. We gave the music away. It was always free, but not easy to find. We made one-off, hand-crafted CD cases and art and produced small runs of CDs. We gave copies to our friends, strangers and random people all over the world. We left CDs in some pretty strange places: the Shocker bar in Munich, on a gas pump in the Midwest, empty seats on trains and buses, Temple Bar in Dublin, on the streets of Prague, NYC, a path above the river Aar in Switzerland... We got a kick out of the idea of someone randomly finding our CD and going home and playing it.

I've never sold my music before. Now I'm selling out. Last week I announced that I'm releasing my first solo album. TJ Milian: One Hand Tied Behind My Back. There is only one copy. I'm selling it on ebay as a box set with all kinds of weird mementos from the past four months. The bidding that started at $1.13 is already up to $30. Great success!

If the bidding goes up to $113, the winner gets 3 hours of additional music over the next five years. The top bonus: at $313, I will play a private concert for the winner + friends anywhere in the world on June 13, 2013. I've got some crazy ideas for the show, too.

The auction ends on Monday. I haven't spread the word about it much aside from putting it on my website and telling friends. I'm not on myspace, facebook or traditional band sites. I've sent emails to some acquaintances and others who I think might appreciate knowing about it. If you happen to know people who might be into checking it out, please let them know. I'll probably lose money by selling the album this way, but I don't care. I just want someone to have it and hopefully enjoy it.