De La Soul to Make Entire Catalog Available for Free  
Here's my thinking about the decision on the part of an artist to release their entire catalog to the public for free: if digital distribution has rendered direct sales to the customer significantly less worthwhile than it once was, they need some  alternate source of promotion and revenue. A move like this would likely increase the artists' visibility in the public's eye without significantly harming their total revenues.<p>Notice that they give out copies of their songs, but don't release their copyright: want to download their music to listen to it on your iPod? Awesome, enjoy. Want to remix it or use it in a commercial setting? The music isn't licensed for that, you're going to have to talk to their agents.<p>This move is genius: it increases artists' exposure, ultimately leading to increased sales, licensing, and presumably also concert revenues. There's basically no downside to this.