Fighting Album Leaks By Offering Something More

from the one-way-to-do-it dept

Mon, Jan 29th 2007 3:55pm — Mike Masnick

Every time we see the recording industry worried about "piracy" we wonder why they don't just play up the additional features or content they can offer. Ben S writes in to point out that the band Fall Out Boy had their latest album leaked online last week. Rather than rush to release the album, as others have done in the same situation, the band has decided to add an incentive to those who actually buy the album: they'll add in a live EP that they're recording tonight in London. If you buy the actual album, you'll get a special key that will let you log into their website and download the live recording. Now, it probably won't take long for the live songs to leak out as well (or, just the key to leak out), but it is one example of a band putting in place incentives and additional value to get people to actually pay for their albums. There are plenty of other ways to do so as well (discounts on concert tickets, merchandise, a chance at a private concert, access to band members, etc., etc.) and hopefully we're starting to see more bands experiment with these types of incentives.

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8 Comments

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Alex, 29 Jan 2007 @ 5:54pm

Or everyone could just accept that piracy doesn't harm the music industry in the slightest. You're right when you say that the "music" part of the package isn't what the industry should be selling. Most* bands make their money from touring and merchandise anyway. The music might be the most important part for the artist and the consumer, but from a business point of view it should be seen as just another promotional tool.

By "most" I am of course, not referring to michael jackson or the beatles
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David, 29 Jan 2007 @ 6:00pm

Might want to update your information there, their album has been on torrents sites for nearly a month now.

I think things like this are great. Or when they suddenly without advance notice stick B-sides on CDs, that is just great. Sure it gets out, but you surprise the customer with more then they thought they were paying for and it makes them wonder what surprises will be in store next time.
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mike, 29 Jan 2007 @ 6:18pm

Oh no! I have to wait for 3 hours after the official release to get ONE! extra song...oh man thats great incentive to buy the album. But its nice to see that they are doing this though in general. As far as Alex said...I agree with him totally about the album sales not being the largest profit margin. RIAA gorw up and maybe you could find that the internet is a better place to distribute music.
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Anonymous c0ward, 29 Jan 2007 @ 6:28pm

Most people don't give a damn about anything extra. The music is all they want, and for those who don't have infinite money, pirating (especially early) is a far more attractive option than paying a lot of money for an album that might have an extra track or recording, which they can get for free anyway.
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Anonymous hero, 29 Jan 2007 @ 7:04pm

Re:
Okay. So we should tell all the bands to quit doing anything other than live performances and t-shirt sales, because selling music online or on CD is a totally lost cause. Anyone who doesn't "have infinite money" is just gonna steal it, anyway.

Nice.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2007 @ 9:23pm

"discounts on concert tickets"

if they do that ... i will buy 3 albums ... and not just one ...

offcourse they aren't gona do that ... foools .. i tell ya ... fools
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2007 @ 9:23pm

"discounts on concert tickets"

if they do that ... i will buy 3 albums ... and not just one ...

offcourse they aren't gona do that ... foools .. i tell ya ... fools
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2007 @ 10:02pm

i would say that 85% of all the music that I have I would have no intrest in seeing live, of the other 15% they are bands that arent that big and the tickets are less than the album its self.
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