Don't Download This Song

Insert Coin(s) to Continue · Mon Aug 21, 2006 2:44 am

thepowerofpolka @ Aug 20 2006, 03:06 PM wrote: I have to admit, when I first heard it was rumoured that WaN was the song being released Monday, I was skeptical. Why would Al give away one of his biggest, most potential money-making songs on the album for free?

The same reason everyone else does it. Singles aren't put out to make money by themselves. Singles are put out to promote the album and attract potential customers to buy the album itself. If Al wanted to attract the most customers, would he let his public listen to his best song or just one of his regular album tracks? Besides, the video is going to air on TV. It's not like he's concerned about the song leaking out or anything.

Post by **algonacchick** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 2:55 am

Very well said, Ryan. Another point in favor of W & N being the song we hear tomorrow.

Post by **U62** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:23 am

thepowerofpolka @ Aug 20 2006, 03:06 PM wrote: I love the irony of Don't Download This Song being a free legal download.

^ Exactly! It's funny that this is going to be the only free download from the album, right?

Al essentially gives away what song it will be when he says, "And I'll even make it a free download." This is key. If that line wasn't included in the announcement, I'd probably be expecting to hear WaN too.

WaN wouldn't be a free download. If it was simply a World Premier to promo the album, it would be either a short clip of the song, like we got with Couch Potato, or in a non-downloadable format. Al's albums sales are driven by one or two "big" songs. If you give away a CD quality track for free, there's no incentive for the average listener to buy the rest because they would already own the song they like.

Al originals don't drive his album sales. So it's really somewhat brilliant to use his original songs to drum up free attention. Getting animated music vidoes for them done by famous animators will cause them to be floated around the internet as web junk giving him more exposure.

The removal of YP by Atlantic Records may have been a blessing in disguise. The publicity from it being made a download was great, and started a series of genius marketing efforts that will continue right up until his album release date. This album may just be his biggest seller ever! (Let's hope!)

Post by **Kevbo1987** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:31 am

U62 @ Aug 20 2006, 09:23 PM wrote:

WaN wouldn't be a free download. If it was simply a World Premier to promo the album, it would be either a short clip of the song, like we got with Couch Potato, or in a non-downloadable format. Al's albums sales are driven by one or two "big" songs. If you give away a CD quality track for free, there's no incentive for the average listener to buy the rest because they would already own the song they like.

See, I disagree on that point. I don't think there would be any harm in making White and Nerdy a free download. I don't think that would hurt his sales at all. Most artists release what they feel is their best song (or at least the one that is most likely to be popular) first. The mainstream artists have the advantage of radio airplay to drum up sales for the album. The first single is played on the radio, people like what they hear, and they buy the album. By releasing White and Nerdy, Al would be doing the same thing, except he'd be releasing it via the internet instead of the radio. By releasing the new parody early, he'd be catching people's attention. People would like the song and buy the new album. I don't doubt that he would release it early. My only doubt is whether he'd release two songs early.

Post by **algonacchick** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:32 am

I don't know, I still think what Ryan said makes more sense. White and Nerdy has been considered by most of us to be the lead single. Al said he was premiering the lead single, so it's gonna be W&N.

Post by **U62** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:35 am

Interesting point Kev. Is there any precedent of a signed artist releasing their lead single as a free MP3 download?

Post by **Bruce the Duck** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:35 am

I don't know if this has been posted yet, but I found this quote on plymptoons.com :

Finally, we can talk about that "secret project" we mentioned a few newsletters ago - Bill has animated a video for the master song parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic, whose new album "Straight Outta Lynwood" hits stores on Sept. 26. The track is called "Don't Download This Song" and describes the perils of on-line music file-sharing. Watch for the video on MTV and VH-1 in August!

Not really much new information, but it does give a brief description of the song's content and also claims it will be shown on both MTV and VH1. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Website · Post by **Teh Dingo** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:40 am

U62 @ Aug 20 2006, 09:35 PM wrote: Interesting point Kev. Is there any precedent of a signed artist releasing their lead single as a free MP3 download?

Plenty. Including most recently Pearl Jam, and their album still debuted at #2

Post by **U62** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:48 am

There's a lot of semantics in this discussion about the "lead single", when the fact of the matter is Volcano doesn't even officially release songs as singles. Plus the only one that called it the "lead single" was Chamillionaire.

Al said he was releasing the "first single" not the "lead single". While you might argue they mean the same thing, I don't know if that's true in this case. No doubt WaN will be the single that leads album sales, even if its not the first one Al's MySpace friends here.

WaN will probably get a much larger premier than this one when it's finally released. WaN will be the lead single in the sense that WaN may be the first song the general public hears. It will be the first parody song that is promoted to the public, and will be the song that drives album sales.

We know that the music video for WaN isn't even filmed yet. Why would he release the song now instead of at the same time as the video?

Just giving you something to think about if you're expecting WaN tomorrow, so you're not disappointed. I do think its possible we'll hear WaN tomorrow, just unlikely.

Peace out,

U

p.s. Good example with Pearl Jam, spacedingo.

Post by **algonacchick** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:51 am

Thanks, Dingo. Good point.

The only thing we know for sure about DDTS is that the video premieres on Wednesday. We'll just see which song premieres on Al's myspace tomorrow.

Point taken about Al saying first single and not lead single, U62 but W & N is still considered to be the first song on SOL, so I still think W & N will premiere tomorrow. U62, I hope you are not too disappointed tomorrow.