Indie Band Pays YOU to Download Their Record, Core Temperature of Hell Currently Unstably Hovering at 33 Degrees Fahrenheit

At TMT, we’re all about the jokes. And yes, here in 2009, both the economy and the state of the old-school Record Industry model are ripe for ceremonious and symbolic cage-rattling, irreverent flouting, and semi-satirical marketing exploitation. But come on, people. A band paying the consumer to download their album digitally? Well, that’s just the kind of ridiculous thing that those VH1 I Love Nostalgia shows will devote an entire segment to when the 2009 show comes along (in 2010).

As part of a marketing campaign motivated by, among other things, a seeming desire to finally “get famous,” Philly-based indie rock band Officer Roseland is paying fans $1 to download their new, unfortunately titled, and woefully graphic-designed album, Stimulus Package, from their website MyStimulusPackage.org.

In case you were wondering, the album is being called “satirical” and supposedly skewers the commercialism of the recording industry -- and of American society at large -- “with a warped sense of humor that is the band's signature.” Blah blah blah. Anyway, upon visiting the site, the band offers fans two options: The first, labeled "TAKE," pays YOU $1 to download the album. The second, labeled "GIVE," donates that $1.00 to the charity Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, an organization that donates instruments to music programs that are already in place but lack the funding to maintain their equipment.

Okay, okay... I admit it. That whole donations thing is actually a really reputable thing to do. But come on, do we really have to resort to using the crippled state of the economy as a publicity scheme to sell our new products? And isn’t “giving things away” actually just harmful to the economy’s capitalism-based progress in the long run?? And, hey wait a minute; aren’t we just feeding this marketability anyway by posting a story about it and name-checking the band??? Aww, man. My head hurts; I think I’m going to go lie down for a minute and watch I Love the 90’s for the 16th time.

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