Making money with free (as in beer) music?

[Snakepit93]

Hey all I know this is really popular with independent software publishers, so I was wondering if anyone thinks it could work for music: could a good, independent band make money by releasing their music for free (legal P2P) and accepting donations? I've heard that software publishers can actually end up making more money that way than by simply selling their product. Thoughts?

[M0ses]

If you sell it in any form, it'll be available online for free soon enough, anyway. So my thinking is why bother? People will like you better this way.

[Snakepit93]

Haha that's what I was thinking. Since almost all music can easily be downloaded for free, isn't any music purchase kind of a donation?

[Bassmickeyd]

I know a better way. ..... Advertise and fill a bar offering free music and free beer. ... Then the bands sucks so bad people will want to leave but then you charge them so they have to pay to get out. ..... The worst the band the more money you charge.

[jmattbassplaya]

Unless you're Radiohead, probably not. You can still make money selling your own music. My friend somehow does it with his comedy band (yes, you read that right) and he makes pretty good money. That said, most of that money gets turned around and goes straight into recording the next album.

[Bongolation]

I'm trying to chase down product placement/sponsorship revenue for the videos.

Somebody's doing it, it seems like a trend, but it's a secretive club, apparently.