Former Replacements' frontman Paul Westerberg finished a 12-song album last Monday. On Tuesday, he sent it to his manager. By Saturday, the entire thing was available on Amazon as one big 44-minute MP3 for 49 cents – approximately a penny per minute of music.
Westerberg played everything on 49:00 himself, according to Billboard, which asked his manager Darren Hill about the offer. "It's just wonderful that you can actually do this," said Hill. "The freedom anartist can enjoy these days is fantastic. Can you imagine me pitchingthis idea to a label?"
Most digital music stores were no more understanding about his plan than labels presumably would have been. Apparently, Amazon was the only one to go along with the idea of charging 49 cents for a 44-minute MP3 – a policy consistent with the pricing flexibility it has offered other labels.
I just paid for the MP3, and from initial inspection, the songs itcontains are worthwhile for anyone who digs theReplacements' sound or wants some solid tunes from a proven entity whois one of the first artists to charge an appropriate amount of moneyfor digital music.
Only a true Scrooge would bother pirating this album when it's available on Amazon for less than the price of a pack of gum.
Despite the advanced nature of his approach to this release, Westerbergdoes not own a computer, yet his manager says hehas been recording loads of new material so there could be more tocome along these lines. Just don't expect him to tour to promote it; hedoesn't perform much after injuring his fret hand trying to scrapecandle wax with a screwdriver.
Westerberg's approach succeeds conceptually and musically. The more I listen to 49:00, the more I realize why it was released asone gigantic 79.3MB MP3; one thing flows into the next, and interesting snippets abound.
It'spossible that the album will survive the digital age – but only if it sticks together as a single file.
Update: The album cover indicates that it's 49 minutes long,
and yet the MP3 only comes in at 44:55. In a couple spots, including24:30 or so, one song appears to have been somehow mixed on top ofanother. It occurred to me that there could be 49:00 of music (life) onhere despite the fact that the recording is crammed into less actualtime.
I asked Paul Westerberg's manager Darren Hill whether this was intentional (since the two parts actually go together pretty well). He responded:
Fair enough!
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