August 31, 2006 – 1:05 pm
This from the website of local independent act Friends of the Stars whose forthcoming album is really quite something:
CALLING ALL INDEPENDENT ONLINE RETAILERS.
Do you sell your niche product to a small but dedicated group of people?
We’re talking about a customer base in the region of 100 people to 20 thousand people.
Nice, niche stuff.
Well we, Friends of the Stars, also have a niche product that we want to sell to a small but dedicated group of people.
Perhaps we could talk? Here’s what we propose.
If you give us $10, we’ll send you 5 tracks from our forthcoming album. You can then distribute these 5 tracks to your small but dedicated group of customers free of charge, free of DRM and with our absolute permission.
You can send these songs as a goodwill gesture to existing clients, or use them as part of an offer for a new product. It’s your $10, so it’s your call.
Please feel free to tell your small but dedicated group of customers they can do with the music what they wish. They can share it, they can burn it to CD, and they can even ignore and delete it should they wish.
Moreover, if you’d like to send us a sample of your product, then please do so. If we like it, we’ll take a picture of one of the band with your product. We’ll send you this picture and, if you wish, you can distribute it to your small but dedicated group of customers along with the music. We’ll also post the picture here… and (once again if we like it) endorse your product.
Email info@friendsofthestars.co.uk for more information.
===========================
Disclosure: I am a fan of Friends of the Stars, a friend and occasional co-conspirator of Friends of the Stars, and I’ve remixed a couple of their tracks for them. However, much as I’d like to, I can claim no credit for this idea – and I think it’s superb.