On Aug. 7, groundbreaking and controversial hip-hop group Public Enemy, yes, with Flava Flav intact, will drop How Do You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul, the outfit's 13th album in over twenty years. And though Public Enemy's members may have grown a little older, they're certainly still on the pulse of changing technology, for the group have opted to release the forthcoming record via revolutionary new music service TuneCore. As a digital music broker of sorts, TuneCore acts as a launching pad for artists to sell their music to online digital music stores such as iTunes and eMusic while retaining all rights and profits for the artist.

"I knew I had a fan base and I wanted to go directly to them," Public Enemy principal Chuck D said in a statement. "What good is a label? All they do is give you money. And in the area of digital distribution, they can't do anything better or faster than anyone else."

On the Web:
publicenemy.com

Talk: Is TuneCore a pioneer in artist rights and online music consumption?