Revolutionary?

Since i was about 15 years of age, i have listened to Blink 182, i am never ashamed to admit that they are, and always have been, my favourite band. I enjoy every single one of their albums and the bands attitude has always been an escape for me, as i imagine it has been for millions of people.

Its never been about songwriting, talent or anything the "critics" would mark them on. It always been a passion, a sense of understanding i have with the way they are. They are a band who talk about stupid stuff on stage, but on the other hand, go on political rallies with presidential candidates.

As you can imagine, when i heard the news that Blink 182 had gone on "an Indefinite Hiatus", i was inconsolable. I was like a teenage girl who favourite boy band had just broke up. The one silver lining to the break had been the formation of two new projects containing the 3 members of Blink, most notably for me, Angels and Airwaves. This isn't to say i didn't enjoy +44, i really did, i even went to see them live and "When Your Heart Stops Beating" is still a fantastic album.

I just anticipated the AVA album more. Maybe it was the "Second coming of christ" style remarks from a very strange, and mouthy, Tom. The first album to come from AVA, was of course "We Don't Need To Whisper", which i really enjoyed but it wasn't quite right. It had the anthemic songs, songs that put pictures in my head, explained a story but not all the songs grabbed me. "The Adventure" was the first song i heard from the album, and i loved it, i played it over and over, start to finish, day in day out.

When the second album "I-Empire" was released a year later, it felt like the missing piece to the puzzle. It felt like the first album was a taster of what they had up their sleeves. This was it, this was what the first album should have been like. I can personally say that "I-Empire" was my album for 2009. I never tire of listening to it, each song has its own sound and feel to it and no song feels out of place. I couldn't even choose a stand out song from it.

The new album comes out on Valentines day this year and is being promoted heavily to coincide with the release of the "Love" motion picture, which was originally mentioned before the first album. For an album titled "Love" then there is no better release day than Valentines day and whats better, its going to be a FREE release. Tom Delonge has said that most kids get their music for free nowadays but still come to gigs, purchase merchandise and therefore still contribute to the bands financial upkeep. They have been given permission from Geffen, to self release the album at an estimated personal cost estimated to be around $500,000.

Now as some of you are probably thinking, "Whats the catch?". Well there is one. You have to sign up to the Modlife website that is owned by AVA at a cost of $6.95 a month, you do get to have webcam chats with the band, member only gigs, merch amongst other things. Is this a good way to promote albums for the future? is it a revolutionary move that other bands will follow?
The revenue generated from customers signing up to the Modlife platform would far exceed any amount they would earn from royalties through a label so why not take the risk.

Personally i think the prospect of signing up for a monthly subscription of $6.95 a month, to get a free album doesn't make sense. Its a backwards logic. The album is going to be sold on digital retailers for around $5-$10 anyway so why not pay the one fee, and get the album anyway?

I think the idea's are all there to produce a method for bands to attract more people to their music, generate more income and make it a level playing field for bands and their fans financially. But charging them for something, and as a reward you get a free album, doesn't strike me as being a good financial decision for any consumer.

I may be proven wrong, only time can tell, but the jury is definitely still out.
The album is out on 14th January. You can see the article that prompted this rant here