The first record I ever put out in 1989 was a hardcore compilation entitled NYHC:Where The Wild Things Are. At the time, it really was something special for me. From what people tell me, for a great many it documented the pinnacle of the second wave of New York Hardcore.
That record remains my favorite release, not because of the relative success it had when it came out. Not even because of the bands that it documented. It was the people, who surrounded it and the fond memories it brings back. One of those people is Jim Gibson. He (and his label Noiseville) were co-founders of Blackout! He remains a close friend, and in addition to still doing his label, he runs an amazing store called Cold Spring Music Company, in upstate NY.
A little while ago, Jim approached me about doing a vinyl reissue of the compilation. Nothing too crazy, just a thousand or so, on colored wax that would surely sell to collectors. As the record wasn't around for a while, I decided that we should do it. Certainly more of a fun thing, as nobody was going to be able to pay their bills with it.
For a while, I've been pondering if I should do a CD reissue of this. Maybe with a DVD or some cool bonus. The Photoshop files have been sitting idle on my hard drive since 2001. But today's CD marketplace is so utterly underwhelming, I decided to take a different path.
In addition to the vinyl version of the release, Where The Wild Things Are will be released digitally via iTunes, eMusic, Downloadpunk, Audiolunchbox, in conjunction with the vinyl release. The record will also be streamed for free in it's entirety, on demand, at Haystack.
I'm hoping that this vinyl/ digital only release will be the start of something new. I'm only going to be advertising it on blogs and on the web, staying away from high priced retail co-ops and print ads in faux punk glossies. It should be an interesting experiment and this release seems to be the one to try it with.
Love to know anyone's feedback on this.
4 comments:
You know what you should do, you should find out if there is any way to get the contact information of the people who buy your comp through itunes or emusic etc... Then you could do a promotional thing like The first 1000 people to download the comp get the vinyl sent to them for free. Of course you could change around the details to find a more profitable/realistic version of that. Also, you should consider Tunebooks for something like this. They would probably make really nice digipamphlet for the digital copy.
Thanks for the idea. I'd like to see what Tunebooks has to offer. As far as iTunes, I'm not really sure they are willing (or legally able) to part with marketing information. Unfortunately, they're not really about helping people discover music in anything but their own proprietary digital format to sell more hardware. I think the same is true with other digital retailers.
I fully support this Bill. Given the niche interest that probably exists for a compilation like that, I think having it out there on the digital services would be great. I love my eMusic account and would be more than happy to shed some monthly downloads on the release!
iTunes? Great! My car shreadded my NYHC tape years ago.
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