Ah, another day, another record label decides to offer a subscription service through drip.fm. As we reported here and here, Ghostly International and Domino recently began their own subscription services, and now, Bloomington, IN/Austin, TX-based label Dead Oceans is joining in on the trend — drawn to it in a manner similar to how a primary school student might be peer pressured into huffing glue for the first time. Who knows what kind of damage it’ll do in the long term, but it sure gives the brain a pleasurable tingle initially.
Just in case you’re unfamiliar with Dead Oceans, their roster includes or has included fairly well-known outfits such as Akron/Family, The Tallest Man on Earth, A Place to Bury Strangers, Frog Eyes, and Califone. The details of their subscription service (Dead Oceans Sounds) are as follows: for 15 bucks a month, you’ll receive every new Dead Oceans release, either as a part of, or in addition to, the at least two albums (new or old) that they send you every month. The music is delivered straight to your email inbox in both WAV and 320 kbps MP3 formats. Upon subscribing, fans will “immediately” receive three full-length albums: The Tallest Man on Earth’s There’s No Leaving Now and A Place to Bury Strangers’ Worship, both of which were released last month, and Gauntlet Hair’s self-titled debut from last year.
Additionally, the folks at Dead Oceans promise a whole bunch of non-digital surprises, such as spots on the guest list for shows, vinyl, CDs, posters, and t-shirts “delivered straight to your door.” And speaking of t-shirts, the first 50 subscribers will be entered to win a “free” Dead Oceans t-shirt; only, it’s not actually free, since you’re still paying for the subscription, but that’s just me being a rational stick-in-the-mud. I’m deeply curious to see if this whole subscription model will still be around a year from now.
• Dead Oceans: http://www.deadoceans.com
• Dead Oceans Sounds: https://drip.fm/dead-oceans
