Rock's New Economy: Making Money When CDs Don't Sell

For Austin rockers Spoon, 2007 was a breakthrough year–but not because they sold a lot of records. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, their album on the indie label Merge, garnered more radio play than any disc in their 15-year history and earned them an appearance on Saturday Night Live. So far the disc has moved just over 250,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan–about half of what Spoon’s manager, Ben Dickey, believes it would have sold even five years ago. “But as far as the band is concerned, the record is a hit,” says Dickey.

The reason? CD sales are no longer the yardstick the band uses. While hip-hop and pop artists ranging from Jay-Z to Britney Spears have long used recordings to sell everything from perfume to liquor, rockers are only just starting to think of album sales as a component–rather than the sum of–the commercial equation.

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