The band Metric has been quite succesful with their latest album Fantasies, despite releasing it without a record label.

How did they finance the album?
Typically the record label will advance the artist money to record an album. When the album is finished, a percentage of the album sales are recouped by the label to pay off the loan. So one of the problems with not being on a record label is finding the money finance the recording. Metric was able to finance the record through the Canadian non-profit Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR).

FACTOR is dedicated to providing assistance toward the growth and development of the Canadian independent recording industry. They provided Metric with a $50,000 loan, which the band will have to repay. In addition, Metric received a small federal grant from the Canadian government.

How are they making money?
Metric claims to be making more money now then they ever did in all four years as a band. They’ve been using iTunes to distribute their music and are able to pull in $0.77 on the dollar for ever album sold, as opposed to the $0.22 they were receiving when they were on a label.

They’ve also made use of Trent Reznor’s multiple price-point business model. On the Metric site they are offering 5 differ pricing packages. And similarly to Reznor’s story, they’ve sold out of all 500 copies of the “deluxe” package (which is the most expesive at $64.99) in the first 48 hours.