After a week in which he has gone back and forth due to his comments about mixtape deejays in Foundation Magazine [click to read], 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 [click to read].

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."