If you haven’t seen Kanye in the news this week, you’re probably in a coma.
In which case we hope you’ve hooked up to our feed ‘cos you’ll need to catch up on this. Through the waves of Yeezy’s Tweets and sound offs this week, you will have seen that he’s stated that new album ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ will feature 5 different album covers. What’s more, West has suggested that the George Condo demonic creation you see below has been deemed too controversial by Def Jam and retail outlets. It remains to be seen as to whether this will be one of the five final covers, but what our diamond fanged friend has managed to do is create an incredible hype leading up to it’s November 22nd release.
With CD sales continuing to fall amidst the boom of the download, record labels and artists are struggling to find ways to make physical sales a profitable avenue for revenue. This has led to a host of labels releasing ‘deluxe’, second editions or re-issues of albums in order to break even or take advantage of a record’s popularity. Something I like to call the 2.0 tactic.
This can be a damn annoyance to a fan who eagerly anticipates an album, goes out and buys it on the day of it’s release and then watches on as it’s re-released three months later with more tracks and more content. It also means that the quality of music on the initial release isn’t as good as it SHOULD have been, but that’s a whole other article.
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However, there is some good news for the fans. With artists needing to sell, some are breaking the mould and thinking of creative goods that make it that little bit more tempting to part with your cash.
Check some recent examples below, and in the words of Will Smith, ‘Don’t download, go out and BUY the record’.
Freeway and Jake One – The Stimulus Package
One of the most creative CD packages Hip-Hop has ever seen. The financial risk at putting out a record like this is huge. So credit to Freeway, Jake and Rhymesayers for making this possible.
It features a folded set of @Phillyfreezer and @JakeUno notes and a wallet design which holds the CD , PLUS an exclusive ‘credit card’ which features a download code enabling you to download the instrumentals to every track.
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After a five year hiatus, Em’ returned in December 09 with Relapse. Fans were given the chance to buy this Deluxe Limited Edition copy for around $130.00. The package included a signed cover print, a Relapse pill bottle with pills, 12″ vinyl and extra downloadable tracks.
That’s what’s poppin’.
Eminem – Relapse Deluxe Limited Edition
Lost count of the amount of versions that was released of this album, i’m gonna guess a solid 5. Gaga went all out with the exclusive content and if you copped the ‘Super Deluxe’ CD, you even got a lock of
