Rather than give his songs away, George should definitely provide a webpage where people can “buy” his next album if they so choose.

You see, the RIAA has figured out what most people haven’t: that P2P isn’t a threat because of pirating, but because it eliminates much of the need for a record company (from the artists’ standpoint).

Record companies are simply marketing and distribution companies: They take a product, put a wrapper on it (metaphorically), and ship it to stores so people can buy it. There are relatively few record companies, so they can maintain a pricing monopoly much the same way the airlines do (not by explicit agreement, but rather by implicit agreement). And by pricing monopoly, I don’t just mean for the price of the album, but also the price “charged” to the artist for this service (in the area of 80% of the gross).

Since P2P is a much, much more efficient distribution method than say, Tower Records … that leaves only marketing as the record companies’ “value add” for a recording artist.

And record companies simply charge too much for their marketing services. A good ad agency could do the work for 10% … and there are many, many more ad agencies than there are record companies. All an artist needs beyond that is a concert promoter.

So, George better watch his back. He is threatening a monopoly with his practice, and its my belief that the RIAA and its constituent record companies simply will not allow that to happen; even if George has to become a victim to stop it.