After a week in which he has gone back and forth due to his comments
about mixtape DJ’s in Foundation Magazine, Lil Wayne quietly signed
a deal to sell digital copies of Tha Carter III directly to his fans.
Wayne is partnering with the digital distribution company Musicane to
sell his upcoming album through his website, social networking pages
and an official blog. Musicane will use a viral online player much like
MySpace and iMeem to offer DRM free MP3s of individual songs as well as
the whole album.

While neither party has publicly stated it, the move was likely also
made to curb the rampant leaking of Tha Carter III. Copies of the album
have been surfacing on blogs, Internet forums and peer-to-peer file
sharing networks for about a week. South Carolina’s DJ Chuck T went so
far as to provide a link for fans and took partial responsibility for
the leak.

Despite the leaks, Musicane’s president and COO, Vikramaditya Jain,
seems thrilled with the partnership. “Lil Wayne is a natural fit to
help further this movement not just because of his stature in the music
world but more for his bold attitude toward change,” says Jain. “He
knows that the new model for the flow of music distribution is rooted
in empowering the fans, not the traditional gate keepers that tend to
slow everything down.”