Between illegal downloading and a troubled economy, many artists are having trouble selling their music in conventional ways. But one musician found an new way to make some serious money.Multi-instrumentalist Josh Freese, formerly of A Perfect Circle and Nine Inch Nails, recently made an astounding $20,000 for an obscenely deluxe version of his album Since 1972.Why would anyone pay $20,000 for an album? Well because it includes a tour of Long Beach, a game of miniature golf with Freese and his rock star buddies and a personal drum lesson (or back and foot massage).Super fan Thomas Mrzyglocki, 19, traveled to Freese’s home earlier this month to redeem his deluxe prize and said he loved every minute of it. Though many of his friends told Mrzyglocki, a high school senior, to make a more sound investment on something like a car, he said he bought something much more valuable.”Almost anybody can buy a car,” Mrzyglocki said in an interview with Wired.com. “Only one person gets to buy Josh Freese’s limited-edition package.”Freese’s unique sales tactics come at a time when many artists are struggling with making traditional record sales. And although his CD packages are some of the crazier ones out there, Freese isn’t the only one offering fan-oriented, “freemium” content to get his music heard.Just last year both Radiohead and Freese’s former Nine Inch Nail bandmate Trent Reznor released their content for free online to much success. Radiohead’s album even went on to be the top-selling vinyl record in 2008.And Freese’s methods appear to be working too. In addition to earning him a few outrageous sums, Freese has been getting plenty of free publicity. But he said most of the money goes toward covering studio costs.”I’ve made a little bit of money,” he said in an interview with Wired.com. “But I’m not out shopping for cars, you know what I mean?”But maybe he would if someone bites for his most stellar package, a $75,000 deluxe edition that includes flying trapeze lessons with Nine Inch Nail’s Robin Finck, taking shrooms and riding around in TOOL’s Danny Carey’s Lamborgini and having Freese come to you and “be your personal assistant/cabana boy for 2 weeks,” according to his Web site.Freese, an in-demand session drummer who has played on nearly 300 albums from Avril Lavigne to Filter, shouldn’t have had much trouble selling a decent amount of $7 CD’s online. But considering the press and money coming in, these tactics may be worth it.Some may think Freese’s offering foot massages on the Internet to sell albums may be selling out at best and whoring himself out at worst.But it sure is working.—-Contact Ben Bourgeois at [email protected]