The “music industry,” as it is today, is nearing its end. Label self-interest and internet piracy have left many musicians struggling to survive. The solution to this issue is to stop focusing on making sales and start focusing on making fans. The permanence and devotion of fans provides artists a security that simple customers cannot give. The fan model consists of using audio files as a free promotional tool to create fans. These fans will buy other products--concert tickets, box sets, or opportunities to interact with artists--that will replace the need for artists to sell albums, a practice that is quickly becoming unprofitable for artists due to the internet piracy pandemic. Music labels scoff at the idea of the fan model, and many musicians still believe the music label model to be the most secure option. It is our job as music listeners to let musicians know that we will support this new model. To a musician, the Fan model can seem extremely risky, especially if he or she has the option of signing to a music label. However, the Fan model can repay artists in much greater dividends than the traditional model, based in advances and royalties, ever will. It is a fact of humanity that individuals can be extremely loyal and generous supporters of those individuals or projects for which they are passionate. It is time that musicians took full advantage of the power of their music and reestablished the connection between the artist and the fan. By signing this petition, we state that, as music listeners, we support artists who wish to make fans rather than customers, and that we will embrace this new model of getting music for free in exchange for supporting artists in other ways, specifically, by purchasing the non-audio-based products that such artists sell to support themselves and encouraging others to do the same.

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