Around this time last year, Warner Brothers recording artists The Raconteurs released their new album, Consolers of the Lonely, to all outlets at the exact same time. This was done in such a way that the public had one week's notice before the album was released. There would be no advance single sent to radio, no promotional videos shot, no advance copies sent to the press...nothing, prior to its release.
You can read their rationale behind this decision here.
At first, I found this to be an interesting idea. However since Warner Brothers is on the West Coast, I ended up having to wait until the following Monday to receive a physical copy for my station. Thankfully, I had signed up for a digital distribution service that services certain releases from the Big Four and a few select independent labels, so I was able to download it Tuesday morning. Though I wouldn't do this in the first place, if I had attempted to upload the files to a blog/website/p2p service, etc. the files from that service are watermarked in my name and could be traced back to me, causing all sorts of legal action against myself and the station.
Also, while "The Raconteurs" gave all sorts of reasons for this decision, I couldn't help shape the feeling that this was an attempt by the label to combat a leak of any form. By doing this, consumers simply couldn't base their judgment on whether or not to buy the album by a song heard on the radio, passed around on the Internet, or blogged about on sites like this one. The record-buying public would need to put their hard-earned money down on the counter (or "checkout now" screen) and pay to form an opinion.
Link to the digital service referred to in article: http://plaympe.com/v4/
No comments:
Post a Comment