Embryonic will be out Oct 13th
In the continuation of the new trend of musicians finding different ways of using the internet to their advantage, instead of only letting it drain potential cash away from them, The Flaming Lips have decided to stream the album in its entirety on Stephen Colbert’s website. If one goes to www.colbertnation.com they will find the album player sitting in the upper left hand corner with little attention drawn to it. One can play/pause and even skip forward or backwards through songs. I am not sure what the quality is, but its as good of a sound from a stream as I have heard. The only part that is a bummer, but a smart move on their part, is that one doesn’t know the song names as they play.
Embryonic will not be release until October 13th, meaning that fans can listen to the entire album almost an entire month before one can even opt to pay for it. It will not be up forever, however, the album will cease to stream next monday (September 21st). One has to dig the way many well known artists are beginning to embrace the possibilities of the internet — even if they do have quite justified reasons for disliking it — instead of just cursing it and all who listen for free. (Billy Corgan just announced he is going to record dozens of songs that will be released for free download, without even the need to give one’s email.)
While it remains to be seen whether this tactic will actually increase the number of people who want to buy the album, or the number of people who felt they already heard it, remains to be seen. But what can be seen is that there are artists, talented and popular artists, who are ready and willing to circumvent the current ways/desires of the record industry and attempt to embrace the internet as an unprecedented promotional tool (which it undoubtedly is). And not only that, they seem to be having fun doing it as well. I personally applaud The Flaming Lips for attempting this marketing technique, quite cool guys, please keep pushing the proverbial envelope. We are all in desperate need for people to challenge the status-quo of the methods for musical intake, because the record industry will NOT do it from within.
So If you are a fan of The Flaming Lips its a must-check-out, cause after next week you’ll have to pay for your Lips fix.
By Sean Poynton Brna
