Something your members may appreciate. This was my response to a fan asking why I wasnt considering releasing my next album as a Digital Download. This response has been commented, liked and shared by over 200 people, that I can count anyway. Maybe theres something in this for you too! RE: DIGITAL DOWNLOADS. I have been burned by having an album released for Digital Download at the same time as the CD version. It cost me an important tour in Europe and an important invitation to play at the Prestigious 30 YEAR Anniversary TV Special - for Rockpalast (with a DVD deal and MILLIONS of viewers). As an artist....the practical reality of putting up Digital Downloads is like doing the old fashioned World Wide deal - which means local distributors (in different countries/territories) wont touch your Hard Copy album. This means no tour advance versus potential album sales and ticket sales...which means NO TOURING. It takes away the incentives for Local Promoters in those territories. Which means the conversation stops and the album disappears into obscurity. So, for those of you wondering why I am shy about doing Digital Downloads..its because I want to return to Europe, USA, and other new territories where I have demonstrable interest from Fans. My master plan has been to Tour in Australia, release the Retrospective...and be able to afford to release the Back Catalogue again - to supply the huge shortfall in demand from fans Old and New. I have always been happy for bootlegs to be out there...in the good old days of sharing mix tapes and sharing gig recordings. But I do not want to diminish what I have to offer....which is original multi-track recordings of the original albums which can be re-mixed and re-mastered to sound up to 80% better! I accept that Digital Downloads are convenient and cheap and appropriate for the new technologies. But I see them as a vehicle for mass consumption. I myself...would prefer to make personal connections. Having something tactile and visual as well as High Quality Audio would be my personal preference as a way to enjoy music. This was once the common practice...people would visit someone and LOOK at their Record Collection on their shelves and SHARE conversations and stories, that the music would provoke. You can still of course sit and listen to the music by yourself in your headphones, in either case. But for me I feel my audience would rather make a closer connection to my music and myself through the entire package - the artwork I choose, the liner notes, the credits, and photos, etcetera. I make albums that are complete as best as I can with the resources available at the time and hope that my listeners take in the concept of an ALBUM in its entirety...NOT JUST a computer file. I acknowledge that this may not suit the current trend of high turnover music made on iPads and Tablets..but thats the whole point. I have always released my own brand and genre of music, in my own way as an Independent Artist. And I believe people appreciate that very much. If this does not suit you...there are plenty of bootleg digital files on the internet and if people decide to upload any future releases..far be it from me to stop them. Having said that, I will soon have a website up where you can send me requests for album releases, touring and such.....and if I have an overwhelming response...indicating people do not have the patience to wait for the remixed and remastered albums....then I may decide to sell download copies of these albums (or accept donations towards them on a no-commision, direct to artist drop-box), which will allow you to have files which I would have uploaded directly from the current albums I have in my own possession. This will not mean that I will stop my mission to invest in restoring and remixing the original tapes (and releasing the remastered versions). In fact it is a priority that I have shared in an agreement with The National Film and Sound Archives of Australia....that we Bake and Digitise the original tapes at their facilities to ensure they are protected for posterity. But it is an expensive process and may take some time for me to earn the money required to do so. So I hope you are happy to go the distance with me. As for To Ride a Dead Pony...the reason it has taken 15 years to put it out is because it has cost time, energy and money to restore old tapes, compile and consider how best to present the songs - so that it sits together as a complete album in itself. I had hoped people would like to remember and share with their kids and each other, just how it was that we enjoyed our music during the time period that this album represents.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 05:43:10 +0000