“A Color Map of the Sun has now officially been released!” explained Pretty Lights to fans on his website, after his new album came out. “If you can, I encourage you to purchase a copy of the album digitally in iTunes or physically through PrettyLightsMusic.com, or at a local record store or download it at no cost below.” A no-brainer for fans to take the latter option, right? Except enough of them bought the album to help it debut at number 24 in the US charts this week, including outselling Daft Punk to go top of the vinyl album charts. It’s the latest example of Pretty Lights profiting from free downloads: he was one of the first high-profile artists to work with BitTorrent, for example. And it’s just the latest reminder that an artist’s ability to give music away while also selling it depends a lot on their relationship with fans.
Source: Mixmag
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