I'm both a programmer and a musician. As a programmer I think bits are bits, they are meant to be replicated. I make my software free (open) and charge for the

I'm both a programmer and a musician. As a programmer I think bits are bits, they are meant to be replicated. I make my software free (open) and charge for the service, not the product. As a musician, pretty much the same thing. I make most of my earnings from gigs. I see albums as marketing, a polished support for what you could get in a digital form for free. Some people still prefer the physical form, especially if you offer something more original than a classic plastic case digipak. I'm actually genuinely happy when I see my albums shared in online forums. So my advice would be: provide a service valuable enough that users are willing to pay for it even if they could find the contents somewhere else.