This has to be one of the most honest and genuine actions I’ve ever heard of an artist doing. Jane Siberry is letting her fans choose the price they pay on her albums.  ALL of her albums.  Wow, yes, this far surpasses Bono helping the starving AIDS-ridden children of Africa or whatever the hell it is that he does.

From BigO Worldwide:

SIBERRY LETS FANS DECIDE ON VALUE OF HER MUSIC

Canadian singer-songwriter Jane Siberry is offering all her catalog of albums for download with a self-pricing policy. That means you decide how much you want to pay for it when you download from her site at janesiberry.com. Siberry has sold her house and is living a simpler life in a rented room in Vancouver. “…I started feeling it was wrong to withold my music for money - as strange as that may sound! - and if I need to find another way to make money, I will,” she said. “If I don’t make money, I accept that.” This is truly an alternative lifestyle that record companies will not like.

Here’s an excerpt of her open-letter to her fans:

You decide what feels right to your gut. If you download for free, perhaps you’ll buy an extra CD at an indie band’s concert. Or if you don’t go with your gut feeling, you might sleep poorly, wake up grumpy, put your shoes on backwards and fall over. Whatever. You’ll know what to do.

You get four options when you complete the transaction for her album:

1. free (gift from Jane)
2. self-determined (pay now)
3. self-determined (pay later so you are truly educated in your decision)
4. standard (today’s going rate is about .99)

I’ve never listened to the woman’s music, but I suggest we all give her a try.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 14th, 2006 at 2:37 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.