Music fans should read today’s front-page story in the Star Tribune about the Electric Fetus‘ new mp3 download service.
ThinkIndie aims to win over customers who would rather support local and independent music stores instead of giants like iTunes and Amazon. The sites’ sales will support member stores in the Coalition of Independent Music Stores, whose members developed the site.
The site also will make it easier and more profitable for unsigned bands to sell their music. iTunes requires unsigned bands to work through a third party, which skims its cut of the sales. Those same artists will be able to sell directly through ThinkIndie.
Other ways it differs from iTunes: ThinkIndie will sell larger, high-quality audio files. Albums will be $9.99, same as iTunes, but individual tracks will cost $1.11, perhaps to encourage full album sales.
