Another band intent on using downloading to their advantage are Elbow, who are set to release the first song from their new album 'Cast of Thousands‚ on the internet… and once it's live they want people to send it to their friends. Hmm, what cunning.
The band are said to have gone the interent route because the single didn't fit in with radio playlist styles, formats or marketing strategies.
Bass player Pete Turner said: "We wanted to put something out and wanted 'Ribcage' to be the first song people heard from the album. We knew we couldn't put it out as a single because it is far too long at around six and a half minutes. You can't have a single any longer than four minutes unless you're Radiohead. We put it on the Internet low-key so that people into the band could download it. We didn't restrict it. We made sure people could send it on to their mates. I don't have a problem with [downloading]. People can always get their hands on free music, whether they tape it or just steal it. I want people who can't afford to buy it to still hear the song. I think live is where the whole thing goes. Especially from touring you can make loads of money. I'd rather people come and see the live shows and if downloading ours songs for free means they will do that, then that is fine for me. People need a bit of convincing, so downloading something for free is the perfect way of doing it. I really like artwork and looking at the artwork on the inlay card while I'm listening to music sometimes, so I think people will go and buy it anyway even if they have downloaded it".
It will be interesting to see how marketing projects like this help album sales. The industry might yet find MP3 and file sharing is a good thing – except for the legal departments of course, who would lose out big time.
The 'Cast of Thousands' album will be released on V2.