28/10/2009

If you sign up for the Hard Lessons’ email list, you can download their most recent album, Arms Forest for free. First, this is one of my favorite albums the year and it’s first track, Manoogian Zoo is a song I think Detroit deserves. Second, this is a good deal.  I know many purists on both sides of the “value of recorded music debate” (which I lovingly refer to as the right side and the wrong side) turn their nose up at this kind of thing, but I think it’s a fair trade.  If you like what you hear, do you really mind getting a few emails about buying tickets to their shows or purchasing the super-deluxe vinyl (the yellow was a nice touch)?  If you don’t like it, you can always remove your name from the email list. My only complaint would be that they are only offering the deal for a month — I’m somewhat familiar with the power of “act now while supplies last,” but I still feel they could make the deal more permanent. Honestly, I don’t think anybody else has come up with a better model than this for modern music distribution that any band at any level can immediately employ. Of course it presumes you can use the email addresses to promote shows and merch that actually create income.  I guess if you just want to record for a living, your left with sponsorship, donations, patronage or pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth.  All of which are okay, but again all seem a little more imbalanced in artist, listener relationship. The Hard Lessons are playing with Sloan and the Sam Roberts Band at the River’s Winter Icebreaker Concert November 28 at the Fillmore Detroit.

If you sign up for the Hard Lessons’ email list, you can download their most recent album, Arms Forest for free.

First, this is one of my favorite albums the year and it’s first track, Manoogian Zoo is a song I think Detroit deserves.

Second, this is a good deal.  I know many purists on both sides of the “value of recorded music debate” (which I lovingly refer to as the right side and the wrong side) turn their nose up at this kind of thing, but I think it’s a fair trade. 

If you like what you hear, do you really mind getting a few emails about buying tickets to their shows or purchasing the super-deluxe vinyl (the yellow was a nice touch)?  If you don’t like it, you can always remove your name from the email list. My only complaint would be that they are only offering the deal for a month — I’m somewhat familiar with the power of “act now while supplies last,” but I still feel they could make the deal more permanent.

Honestly, I don’t think anybody else has come up with a better model than this for modern music distribution that any band at any level can immediately employ. Of course it presumes you can use the email addresses to promote shows and merch that actually create income.  I guess if you just want to record for a living, your left with sponsorship, donations, patronage or pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth.  All of which are okay, but again all seem a little more imbalanced in artist, listener relationship.

The Hard Lessons are playing with Sloan and the Sam Roberts Band at the River’s Winter Icebreaker Concert November 28 at the Fillmore Detroit.

Photo posted at 21:05

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