First Free Download: Aerosmith's 'Head First' -- Back in 1994

Radiohead and Nine Inch Inch Nails have attracted much-deserved attention for their innovative free music offerings. But nearly a decade and a half earlier, Geffen Records gave away a DRM-free audio file containing Aerosmith's "Head First" on Compuserve.

The latest MusicAlly report contains a little history lesson:

Giving away music downloads is a promotional ploy that's been used in the music business since 1994, when Jim Griffin – then an exec at Geffen Records - teamed up with Compuserve to distribute a free .wav
file of Aerosmith’s track "Head First." At the time, Griffin equivocated, saying "We're not saying this is how you'll get your music in the future."

Griffin, a familiar face on the digital music panel circuit, was described by CNN Money as "one of the sharpest minds in digital music," but that particular prediction was a bit off.

What goes around comes around. The song is available online for free once again, this time courtesy of imeem.

See Also:

• Estimates: Radiohead Made Up To $10 Million on Initial Album Sales
• Nine Inch Nails Gets Creative With Radiohead-Style Release
• Radiohead Hides Several Pots of Gold 'In Rainbows'
• Music Industry Proposes a Piracy Surcharge on ISPs (advocated by Jim Griffin)

(Photo of Griffin testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee courtesy U.S. Senate)