For its first album in four years, electronic-tinged rock act Metric opted to go without the backing of a music label, a move that in the past would have been daring.
But the Canadian quartet's new release, "Fantasies," popped up in the middle of the U.S. pop chart last week. Metric accomplished that thanks in large measure to iTunes and a nonprofit Canadian arts funding entity.
The 10-track "Fantasies," which took the band in a more pop direction, has sold 9,000 digital downloads in the U.S. since its release March 31, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In the music industry, which counts success in the hundreds of thousands, Metric's sales figures may not seem like much. Nonetheless, taking into account an additional 15,000 downloads the band's co-manager said it sold internationally, Metric is seeing a higher financial return than under a major record deal.
With direct access to iTunes, as well as sales via the band's website, Metric has already brought in more gross revenue than it did on 2005's "Live It Out," which sold more than 45,000 copies. The latter was released in Canada via Last Gang Records and handled in the U.S. by Universal Music Group's independent distributor Fontana.
"Talking gross numbers that come directly to the band, we have made more money already than we have on the last record in four years," said Mathieu Drouin, the band's co-manager. "Without any intermediary, we're making 77 cents on the dollar for every record we sell" on iTunes. Under a label deal, based on Drouin's estimate, Metric would have earned closer to 22 cents.
Metric also took a page from album rollouts employed by much bigger artists such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. In addition, fans could purchase the album directly from Metric's own site (www.ilovemetric.com), which sold "Fantasies" at five price points, ranging from an $8.99 album download -- with an extra track not available on iTunes -- to a $64.99 "deluxe" package that included autographs, artwork and invitations to exclusive performances.
Metric sold out of an initial allotment of 500 deluxe packages in 48 hours, said Drouin, who estimated a profit of $13 to $15 per unit. "We can never offer a fan that much value at that price if we had to go through a record company, distributor and a retailer. We cut out three rungs."
The website's back-office operations are handled by Santa Monica-based Topspin, which is also overseeing online marketing.
