That being said, one could argue (as you do) that mainstream, mass-market content is becoming a commodity and the price of that content will inevitably fall over time. The beauty of Topspin’s platform is the flexibility of its marketing and commerce engine: artists can offer fans multiple pricing models, including pay-per-track, free streaming access, an all-you-can eat subscription model, special bundles that include higher-quality encodings, B-sides, demos, live or other unreleased content, and even the ability to sell atoms and not just bits, which can allow artists to sell things like special-edition CDs, tickets and other merchandise.

Topspin’s blog provides numerous examples of artists using their platform, and besides lending a CDN-enabled hand to NIN, most of the artists using Topspin today do not (yet) fall into the “established artist” bucket, but instead include artists like Imaad Wasif, Jubilee and Josh Rouse. Each of these artists have offered compelling “packages” of content to their fans, which have included unique content like 7” vinyl, previously unreleased tracks, and autographed CDs. We believe there is plenty of room for monetization of content when it is done direct-to-fan and the offerings are compelling, and Topspin’s early results with artists on their platform have strongly validated this: response rates and purchases rates on these artist’s campaigns have been, frankly, ridiculously good.

Bottom line, we are excited about the early results we’ve seen from artists using Topspin to reach their fans and sell their music, and we believe there is a large opportunity for Topspin to help artists run and grow their businesses. Topspin will enable not just mainstream acts to monetize their art, but will also allow a universe of artists who don’t fit into the major-label model (or who fell out of it) to grow and prosper, thanks to the wonders of the internet’s tubes.