A group I play in will be releasing a new album before the end of the year and, as we all know, this is an odd time to release an album, what with few people actually buying CDs anymore. We make the physical things as interestingly packed as we can, so we hope there's an incentive to buy an actual copy.

Briefly, the plan would be to release a) our nicely-packaged CD version (from us, from a few shops etc) and b) a free MP3 version, which will have a voiceover at the beginning; something along the lines of...

'Thanks for downloading the free version of our album. You're free to distribute it as long as you leave this voiceover at the beginning; if you enjoy listening to the record, and you'd like us to be able to make another one, please consider buying a copy from our website- because we're self-funded, you'll be supporting us directly, and we'll be able to carry on making music. Thanks for your time.'

The question is, predictably: is this a good idea? And, as an additional question, how much would are you willing to pay for an album these days?

If you can spare the time, please head over to www.nickfuckinggill.com and post your reply and comments there. Or just reply here. I'd really appreciate everyone's thoughts.

n xoxox