September 16, 2009

Disintermediation: Vertical Integration in Cult Bands

After a seven year hiatus, the British pop band Cornershop has released its new album, Judy Sucks a Lemon for Breakfast. The album is self-published; there appears to be no record company other than the band itself. In the U.S., the CD is available through Amazon as a $36.98 import. But the band sells it directly on its own site for 10 British pounds, payable through Paypal. This includes shipping world-wide:

SHIPPING COSTS, TIMES AND METHODS All prices include package and postage worldwide. Cornershop endeavour to despatch your online order within 3-5 working days of receipt (subject to stock availability). Please allow up to 28 days for delivery when an item is out of stock. All digital downloads (MP3s) are simply & immediately downloaded by yrselves after Paypal procedure. In need of shop help? Please contact info@cornershop.com

This is certainly not the first album to be released directly by the band without a record company, but is less commonplace among popular bands (Cornershop's Brimful of Asha reached #1 in the UK in 1998. 

A sign of things to come?

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 16, 2009 at 08:49 PM in Digitization | Permalink