An innovative company called BandMerch crafted a remarkable promotion for the rock group Linkin Park. Buy a CD, put it in your computer, go online, and you can buy one of three thousand pairs of collectible Linkin Park sneakers, made by hip shoe brand DC Shoes. This works at so many levels, it’s scary.

First, it makes it worth buying the CD instead of listening to a friend’s. Second, it takes a sonic idea and adds the visual (sneaker). Third, it pays for itself. Fourth, it’s limited in time and size, so people need to get in early. “Hey, where’d you get those sneakers?”  They sold out of almost every size before the sneakers even got to the warehouse.This, not suing your listeners, is the way to grow the music business.