Canadian DJ's New Album Comes With Cardboard Turntable That Plays Included 3-Track Bonus Disc
from the gaining-new-fans-by-going-old-school dept
As digital media has erased scarcity from the normal artist-to-fan equation, artists who understand this fact are coming up with new ways to package the "infinite," bringing scarcity back into the equation and opening new levels of connection with their fans.Kid Koala's latest album, "12 Bit Blues," is both selling scarcity (in the form of limited editions) and giving the fans a way to connect with the music on a slower, more personal level. Limited editions, both on CD and vinyl (the 2 x LP version is already sold out), come packed with a DIY project that allows the purchaser to construct a miniature cardboard turntable that plays an included flexidisc with three bonus tracks. (H/T to Nate Hoffelder for sending this my way.)
Every "play" of this disc is certain to be a unique experience as it must be rotated by hand. The "slow music" experience is indicative of Kid Koala's production efforts. Rather than generate the entirety through software, he built "12 Bit Blues" from the ground up, for a more "raw" and "immediate" album.
Eric [Kid Koala] began working out what he could do with it – a kind of reverse engineering back to his childhood self. A little mucking around and it came to him – the blues was always about stripping music back to its bare essentials, which is exactly what the SP1200 does, too. Over three days he cut up and reassembled the bed tracks for 12 Bit Blues. No sequencing software was used. Using the pads on the machine and a multitrack, Eric played each part of the tracks in real time, before finally returning and adding cuts over the top.Kid Koala's offering does several things exactly right. First, it creates a scarce product that goes beyond an LP pressing. Second, it creates a unique experience for each fan who purchases it. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the concept and execution of Koala's vision for "12 Bit Blues," with its hand-built, hand-operated turntable, is bound to generate a ton of "word of mouth" advertising. This advertising almost always creates new fans, as the connection relies on genuine enthusiasm traveling from person-to-person.
Filed Under: connecting with fans, kid koala