1) DVR062 will be a physical format compilation. I'm sure the more regular visitors amongst you will know which format I am referring to, but to those who don't, it's the humble 8-track tape. It is currently untitled.
2) This will be expensive to produce. So expensive, I can't do it unless I fill the pre-orders. Basically the costs of making anything up to 100 of these tapes (brand new mind you - not just store-bought blank tapes but brand new ones, manufactured specifically) would mean a "retail" price of at least £20. That would buy you at the absolute minimum a copy of the product, a FLAC or MP3 copy (your choice) of the entire comp via email, and P+P. I still need to figure out some additional extras to offer people, particularly as the format itself is not the most widely-used any more, so there's a high chance people may buy this purely for the digital copy and the extras.
3) I am not looking for track submissions. For want of a better term, this is my baby, and I'm keeping control of that side of the project. Rest assured, these will be quality musicians and songwriters, many of whom will be making their first appearance on Digital Vomit with exclusive tracks.
Yes, this is a vanity project, but it's one I'm very interested to see completed. If you want a point of reference, this is basically the same issue that V/Vm had getting projects like Theoretically Pure… and There Was A Fish… into a physical format. The pre-orders will fund the entire project, with really minimal profit going my way. We are talking something like the equivalent of a fairly average night out in London. I'd like to guage interest in who would be interested in buying this, so if you are, either reply here or email me at lee.ashcroft hat hotmail.co.uk with DVR062 in the subject line. I'm hoping to have a list of artists on board set in stone at the very least within the next month or so, so maybe you'll want to wait until then. Like I say though, the ones I have lined up are fantastic.
Why 8-track? In lieu of a real answer, I would urge you to track down the film So Wrong They're Right if you can (if you're in the UK, it's on Sky Arts 1 every so often). The love and affection these tapes have amongst an admittedly small percentage of music lovers is, to my mind, incomparable to any other format, even vinyl, and this is obvious in the film. As Cheap Trick have proved, there is still a demand for 8-track tapes, despite their technical drawbacks. Maybe not amongst you guys (particularly those outside America), but there undoubtedly is somewhere. And with the music industry moving ever closer towards 100% digital distribution, people deserve to be reminded of the joy that can be had from putting a tape in a deck, or a stylus on a record, when the process of buying a music download takes pretty much all the soul out of buying music. When I buy something, I want to own it. I want to be able to hold it. When you buy a track from iTunes, you're lucky if you ever actually find the file on your hard drive. And if you do, what do you have? A load of metaphysical bits that don't actually exist. As impractical as an 8-track tape is in 2009, I'd rather have that than a joyless, DRM-laden AAC file that frankly sounds just as bad as a battered 8-track tape in its own way. (Even if I didn't have a player I'd be tempted to buy a DigiVom tape anyway, just for the novelty.) The difference being you can't hold the AAC file. I realise I'm perhaps preaching to the converted here, but even we seem to have all but given up on physical product. In fact the only one we've had this year was Uncivilized and Beytah's CD-R (which I still want a copy of, incidentally Brian…). Let's enjoy some physical audio action again.
Actually, maybe that is a real answer. Still, go watch that film if you can. Here endeth the post.
