ARTISTdirect went public in March 2000, just as Napster was shaking the music business. Marc Geiger and Don Muller, music industry veterans, founded the Los Angeles company in 1996. They built a network of artist sites and a store for music and merchandise. They also launched a record label with well-known industry figures. Musicians and fans were finding each other online, and the record labels were slow to follow.

A Cut for the Artist

ARTISTdirect bet that artists would want a direct line to their fans. A site built around them could earn money from merchandise, advertising and music sales. It gave musicians a share of what their fans spent. Its artist pages offered news, tour dates and merchandise in one place. The idea was early. Fans were moving to free downloads, and online music sales were still years from catching on.

Fading Out

ARTISTdirect priced its IPO at $12 a share in March 2000 and listed on Nasdaq. Losses mounted as the dot-com market fell and the label struggled. The company cut back sharply and spent much of the decade searching for a stable business. It never regained the attention it had at its offering. Later platforms made the direct link between artists and fans common.

Cover: The Guitar Player (M.W. Ridley), James McNeill Whistler. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a guitar player.