NEW TRACK “DO YOU” NOW AVAILABLE AS INSTANT GRAT WITH ALL PRE-ORDERS AT iTUNES, AMAZON & Spoontheband.com
vinylgratification.com
spoontheband.com
As reported by billboard.com, Spoon has leveled the digital vs brick and mortar retail playing field by introducing the newly minted Vinyl Gratification program.
The program turns the common practice of incentivizing digital pre-orders with “instant gratification” tracks by offering an indie-retail-only three-song vinyl 10-inch as an instant, well, Vinyl Gratification.
Beginning July 15, participating independent record stores will be listed at vinylgratification.com. Fan
Britt Daniel says of the initiative:
A few weeks ago as we were figuring out how to roll out the new Spoon album I kept coming back to this: why do we incentivize people to buy our music from big outlets but we don’t extend the same courtesy to actual record stores? Case in point: why do we encourage listeners to buy early by offering “instant gratification” tracks for pre-orders of the digital album, yet there’s no special motivation for buying music from Waterloo or Reckless Records? And there’s no incentive to buy the format that so many of those listeners prefer—an actual physical item they can hold and read and play on a turntable.
So I came up with an idea, and today I’m pretty ecstatic to be able introduce the Vinyl Gratification program. It’s the first program of its kind; it encourages pre-ordering a vinyl copy of our new album They Want My Soul at independent record stores all over the US (and soon, internationally) by providing its own sort of instant gratification: a limited edition 10″ vinyl featuring three pre-release songs from the album that you can take home with you and put on your record player immediately. The great people at Record Store Day have generously offered to spread the word about the program and we’re launching with over 150 stores on board, well beyond our wildest dreams.
To rush this program into existence, we’re releasing the 10″ in a plain white sleeve, but rest assured we’re cutting no corners with regard to the audio. Have you ever noticed the difference in sound quality between 45 RPM and 33 RPM??? Yes, 33 RPM is amazing and warm, but 45 RPM on a larger format disc, with more physical representation of the music via record grooves, delivers even more stunning audio. We think the 10″s sound unbelievable, and we’re pretty sure you will too.
If like me, you’ve ever rushed home with a brand new record that you couldn’t wait to play—and couldn’t actually play until you slapped it onto your turntable—I hope the Vinyl Gratification program will bring back some magic for you. And I hope you’ll join us in supporting the independent record shops that have supported us for so long.
Britt Daniel
Austin, TX
For those hankering for an even more instant bit of gratification ahead of They Want My Soul’s arrival, Spoon will be offering new track “Do You” as a downloadable instant grat. on iTunes, Amazon and Spoon Store with all pre-orders of They Want My Soul. And for those who want even more, there’s always the road:
07/12-13/14 – Telluride, CO – The Ride Festival
07/18/14 – Louisville, KY – Forecastle Festival
07/25/14 – Seattle, WA – Capitol Hill Block Party
08/01/14 – Chicago, IL- Metro
08/02/14 – Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
08/05/14 – San Diego, CA – Sleep Train Amphitheatre at Chula Vista*
08/08/14 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fairbanks Lawn of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
08/10/14 – San Francisco, CA – Outside Lands
08/17/14 – Portland, OR – Musicfest NW
08/30/14 – Montreal, QC – Parc Jean Drapeau *
08/30-31/14 – Philadelphia, PA – Made in America Festival
09/02/14 – Washington, DC – Lincoln Theatre +
09/05/14 – Raleigh, NC – Hopscotch Music Festival
09/06/14 – Norfolk, VA – Norva +
09/07/14 – Boston, MA – Boston Calling Music Festival
09/10/14 – New York, NY – Central Park
09/11/14 – Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead +
09/12/14 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room +
09/13/14 – Hamilton, ON – Supercrawl Festival
09/14/14 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Theatre +
09/16/14 – Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre ^
09/17/14 – Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theatre ^
09/18/14 – Madison, WI – Orpheum Theatre ^
09/19/14 – Minneapolis, MN – State Theatre ^
09/20/14 – St. Louis, MO – Pageant ^
09/21/14 – Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall ^
09/23/14 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom ^
10/03-05/14 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Music Festival
10/10-12/14 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Music Festival
11/01/14 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
11/02/14 – Hamburg, DE – Uebel & Gefarlich
11/03/14 – Basel, CH – Kaserne Reithalle
11/04/14 – Cologne, DE – Luxor
11/05/14 – Gent, BE – Vooruit
11/06/14 – Paris, FR – Trabendo
11/07/14 – London, UK – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
* supporting Arcade Fire
+ with Hamilton Leithauser
^ with EMA
