Giving It Away

If you're a band with a following that doesn't sell a lot of CD's, does giving your product away in a magazine make sense? In the latest issue of Relix, Big Head Todd and the Monsters have done just that. A band that I've heard of but have never seeked out, their latest album is tucked in with the magazine. It's a good album, especially if you like Hold Steady, although the blues that kicks off the album is generic. But it is a good album. Yet, I probably would've never bought it had the magazine not gave it away. Established artists are reluctant to do these things. Sure, in 2007 Prince and Ray Davies gave their albums away in English newspapers. But would they have done it here? New bands, long-running bands like Big Head Todd who don't sell but do good concert business, for them it makes sense to get their product out there. Older acts like Prince and Ray Davies realized this to a degree.