Jack White Releases Single... By Launching 1,000 Balloons With Flexi Discs Attached
from the ah,-the-amazing,-flying-flexidisc dept
The tacocopter may be necessary if you want to take to the local skies to deliver a product to a specific location, but what if you just want to distribute a product semi-randomly? Famed musician Jack White -- who has quite a history of doing cool experiments with new business models that make use of unique scarcities -- has released a new single from a forthcoming album by tying 1,000 flexi-discs with the single on them to 1,000 giant blue balloons, and launching them into the sky. Yes, this was done on April 1st, and the whole thing was done somewhat tongue-in-cheek (it was described as "an experiment exploring nontraditional forms of record distribution and a way to get records in the hands of people who don't visit record shops"), but it's still pretty cool.
Third Man Records, the label White created, admits that "the typical recovery rate on similar balloon launches... is around 10%", making these flexi-discs pretty likely to be extremely rare for those who find them. As the Creators' Freedom Project points out:
It’s super unique, the balloon distributed discs will be a hot item when they’re eventually recovered, and the instructions on how to tell the rest of the world via social media will help to spread the word about the record since the actual release of the album is the next week.Indeed, the label is already tracking where the balloons are being found and reported.
I know that some of our usual critics will come up with ways to mock this, but it's yet another example of an artist doing something fun and creative that is a unique way to connect with fans.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: balloon, distribution, flexi-disc, jack white, single
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
/sarc
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Response to: Machin Shin on Apr 9th, 2012 @ 1:28pm
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Competing with free
Sincerely,
the Concerned Representatives of Various Legacy Industries
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Competing with free
What you lose on each sale you can make up in volume.
But that only works for artists like Jack Black who sound much better when it's really, really loud.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Competing with free
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Competing with free
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
But this isn't a distribution system that makes any sense, I mean who would spend money to create all this, have a 10% success rate, and hurt the environment with all the failures?
(oh, I guess all the major publishers would do basically that)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
turntable
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: turntable
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fun? yes. Amusing? yes. Connect with fans? Not really unless the fans happen to have a balloon fall on their heads.
It a way mostly to connect with random people who don't give a crap about your music. Amusing, nice pictures, but does it really do anything beyond that in marketing?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hmm...
And what of the children walking to school and a balloon falls from the sky and they inhale the rubber and suffocate.
For crying out loud, think of the children...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hmm...
Biodegradable Latex Balloons
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Hmm...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Hmm...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
wtf is a flexidisk?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: wtf is a flexidisk?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cost?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Oblig. Airborne Marketing Reference
First thing that popped into my head lol..
N.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
They're not out to kill the planet with balloon warfare. Then again I could be wrong they might all be packing a few pounds of anthrax.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Record players?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]