50 Foot Wave opens tonight at the Garage in London, marking the return of Kristin Hersh back to the European rock stage with a blistering live act. Yet none of the popular centralized digital music distribution services have the six tracks from 50 Foot Wave's self-titled mini-album available. Fortunately, Throwing Music, Ltd. found a remarkable solution that not only makes the songs available anywhere in the world simultaneously, but which does so at the same price of US$1. Instead of a centralized "on-line store," Billy O'Connell, manager of Throwing Music, chose a different approach.
New York, NY (PRWEB) September 23, 2004 -- 50 Foot Wave opened Thursday night at the Garage in London, marking the return of Kristin Hersh back to the European rock stage with a blistering live act. Yet none of the popular centralized digital music distribution services have the six tracks from 50 Foot Wave's self-titled mini-album available. Fortunately, Throwing Music, Ltd. found a remarkable solution that not only makes the songs available anywhere in the world simultaneously, but which does so at the same price of US$1. Instead of a centralized "on-line store," Billy O'Connell, manager of Throwing Music, chose a different approach.
Weed files could be downloaded from ShareNewYork.com at the beginning of the tour. Weed files can be listened to 3 times before they lock and must be purchased. After purchase, the Weed files can be freely copied and shared, turning every fan who buys a song into a legal distributor.
On the strength of Hersh's devastating songwriting, singing, and guitar mastery, the Throwing Muses became a deeply influential post-punk fixture from the mid 80's into the mid 90's. 50 Foot Wave is a power trio, including fellow Throwing Muse Bernard Georges on bass, and a new hard edged, fast paced LA drummer, Rob Ahers, challenging Hersh and Georges to new heights. This music is a different world from the acoustic shows Hersh has been performing the past few years.
Playing a different city every night for 11 days, 50 Foot Wave will sweep across the UK, then move on to France, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany, with a final concert in Berlin at the Knaack Klub on Sunday, 3 October. To have been without a method of previewing and selling individual songs over the Internet, the band would have been missing an important modern marketing tool. And the nature of Weed files gives both the band and the fans far more than the centralized stores could offer. "I love what you're doing at ShareNewYork.com. When the next mini-album is released in the beginning of 2005, we want Weed files available the same day," was Billy O'Connell's comment on the service he received from ShareNewYork.com, and the optimism he feels for this new and unique file format.
To buy a Kristin Hersh track on Apple's iTunes store in London, it would cost ?0.79 (about US$1.41). The same track from iTunes in Germany or France would cost €0.99 (about US$1.21). So even if 50 Foot Wave were available, it would be more expensive than the files ready for download now from ShareNewYork.com, which simply cost US$1, at whatever the current exchange rate into any common world currency. And this from a file format which is higher audio quality than iTunes (192kbps .wma files), and which is legal to be shared in any way a file can be shared.
About Weed
Weed (sm), a service of Seattle-based Shared Media Licensing, Inc., is designed to encourage Internet file sharing rather than try to stamp it out. The result is a completely new distribution opportunity for independent artists. Instead of restricting Internet file sharing, Weed actually pays people to share music on the Internet.
Weed files are designed to be shared freely on the Internet and still earn revenue for artists. When you get a Weed file, you can play it three times for free on any Windows PC, and after that you're asked to pay for it. If you choose to purchase a Weed file, you can listen to it on up to 3 PCs, burn it to CD, or transfer it to a portable device. Most importantly, if you purchase a Weed file and share it with someone else who buys it, you'll earn a payment for helping to distribute the music. Artists and rightsholders earn 50% on all transactions. More information is available at http://www.weedshare.com/.
About ShareNewYork.com
Founded in January 2004 by Ed Bernstein, ShareNewYork.com became the first Weed File Sharing Hub. A web host for musicians and Weed file sharers alike, we allow only Weed files to be uploaded, because Weed files are the only file format guaranteed legal to share. We are the best choice for those who wish to share files legally and safely without nuisance advertising or the dangers of exposing their computers to p2p networks. Blog and forums are free. Weed storage is $1/MB/Year, with an automatic 60 day free trial including 100MB of storage. Musicians have additional options, including free hosting. See the site for more details.
Contact:
Ed Bernstein
http://ShareNewYork.com
ed@ShareNewYork.com
516-967-2795
More 50 Foot Wave Weed Information: http://ShareNewYork.com/drupal-cvs/node/view/318
50 Foot Wave home page: http://ThrowingMusic.com/
Shared Media Licensing, Inc. home page: http://www.weedshare.com/
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