posted November 12, 2014 #
I haven't consistently listened to TMBG for a few cycles now. They will always hold a fond place for me but the recent music hasn't grabbed me in the same way (self-titled through
John Henry is unflappable). Despite that, I am absolutely floored by this
Instant Fan Club that they recently announced. For $98 you get 52 new songs, two tickets to a show, three CD's, a DVD, a t-shirt and two basal wood airplanes. There's another, slightly more expensive, tier that includes vinyl of the new music, an autographed copy of
Flood on vinyl and a pretty badass commemorative coin.* It's a very smart move on their part - fully leveraging their audience to set them up for success for an entire year before said year has even begun. Granted, this works best for a band with a fervent fanbase that's been doing their thing for 20+ years but that doesn't make it any less interesting of a thing.
I'm continuously impressed by the flux of the music industry and how artists find their a way to traverse themselves to a solvent monetary solution. Good on you TMBG.
* There's also a cheaper tier of just digital downloads but that's slightly less compelling to talk about
