Wired News
March 20, 2008
Radiohead and Nine Inch Inch Nails have attracted much-deserved attention for their innovative free music offerings. But nearly a decade and a half earlier, Geffen Records gave away a DRM-free audio file containing Aerosmith’s “Head First” on Compuserve.
The latest MusicAlly report contains a little history lesson:
Giving away music downloads is a promotional ploy that’s been used in the music business since 1994, when Jim Griffin – then an exec at Geffen Records - teamed up with Compuserve to distribute a free .wav file of Aerosmith’s track “Head First.” At the time, Griffin equivocated, saying “We’re not saying this is how you’ll get your music in the future.”
Griffin, a familiar face on the digital music panel circuit, was described by CNN Money as “one of the sharpest minds in digital music,” but that particular prediction was a bit off.
What goes around comes around. The song is available online for free once again, this time courtesy of imeem.