There Is No Cat

Anything to feel weightless again

One of my favorite bands, The Handsome Family, has a new Internet-only CD of crap that wasn’t good enough for a real record. Of course, I had to snap it right up. This is an interesting trend I’m seeing a lot of lately, bands that make own-release CDs to sell via their web sites. I think this maybe started with them making tour-only CDs. Sometimes they’re live, sometimes they’re demos. It’s fascinating to see this happen. It didn’t used to work like this in the old days. Oh, maybe once in a while a band would release some demos through a fan club, like the tape XTC released through Little Express in Canada back in 1987, but it wasn’t a common thing. Or at least it wasn’t something you could get your hands on without being well-connected. But today, the confluence of the easy availability of CD burners and the ability of the net to publicize things among a small group of devoted fans, the practice seems to be expanding. The other day, I received a package of CDs that I ordered from Calexico’s web site that are not available in stores! And next week or thereabouts, I should be receiving a few Billy Bragg official bootleg CDs. Not to say that these are CD-Rs, mind you; the ones I’ve seen are actual full-fledged CDs, not something that the musicians burned on their Macs in their spare time. But the advent of home CD recorders, home studios, etc., makes it easy for the artists to set up their own cottage industry in parallel to the Big Bad Record Industry. I’m not sure if it’s possible for someone to bypass the industry completely like so much hype claimed in recent years, but I think something like this that adds another revenue stream for artists while not hurting the fans is a good thing.

I wonder if online stations would have to pay royalties for broadcasting these official bootleg CDs. I suspect not, since they’re not officially released, and stations like KPIG which have shut down their webcast of commercially-recorded music (disappointing some high-profile fans) are continuing by streaming nothing but music they’ve recorded live. I’m not sure I’d want to be the one to take on the RIAA over this, but it’s an interesting thought.

Posted at 8:56 AM