Wilco are one of the finest bands going around right now. It’s not just their awesome recordings, the amazing live shows, or that brilliant voice. We love their approach. Case in point, this week when they discovered that their record, Wilco (the Album) had leaked. What to do? Well, might as well put it up on our website (as a stream). And ask for donations. to someone else.
Here’s what Wilco sent out to their mailing list:
Well, we made it nearly a month with copies of Wilco (the album) floating around out there before it leaked. Pretty impressive restraint in this day and age. But the inevitable happened last night. Since we know you’re curious and probably have better things to do than scour the internet for a download (though we do understand the attraction of the illicit), we’ve posted a stream of the full album at http://wilcoworld.net/records/thealbum/ . Feel free to refer to it as “wilco (the stream)” if you must.
We also have our usual guilt abatement plan for downloaders. If you have downloaded the record, we suggest you make a donation to one of the band’s favorite charities, the Inspiration Corporation — an organization we’ve supported in the past & who are doing great work in the city of Chicago. Information and donation button here: http://inspirationcorp.org/.
That’s all. Enjoy the stream.
They’ve backed it all up with a pretty fantastic album package. The vinyl with bonus CD for $20US.
Let’s face it, it’s the hardcore fans who love the band who will move mountains to hear the music. It’s those same fans that will go out and buy the awesome package when it’s out in a few weeks. And they love the band enough to support their charities as well. It’s not the first time Wilco have done this, and it seems like standard procedure for the band now. All this talk of new models for how bands can work – we think this is one of the best.
By the way – we are really loving the album. Go have a listen! http://beta.wilcoworld.net/records/thealbum/index.php
A very dry article on the ‘net buzz at Billboard
And the official Wilco website with links to pre-order the new album – http://www.wilcoworld.net