I must give a big thumbs-up to CDbaby though, created by HN regular Derek Sivers - the only commercial offering that actually passes most of the profit onto the creators of the music. Kudos!
This is exactly why you are better off giving your music away for free so that more people hear about you and then making money off of higher margin, less transferable experiences & products. As I understand it for most artists their real income comes from touring and selling merchandise.
This math works fine for musical artists, and I think it's perfectly fine for them, but has anyone figured out how to make movies this way besides upfront donations?
