New album or RiverRun

[TheBang]

I had what I think is a cool idea the other day. They should release a new album this year. But they should also include (and publicize it with a sticker on the front) two download codes for future RiverRun EP's. And publicize the hell out of it on the blogs and social networking sites and whatnot too ("Underworld gives away digital EP's with album purchase!").

So, for example, you'd buy the physical album in, say October 2009. Inside the CD, there's an insert flyer with a big splash that says "You get 2 free digital EP's with this album! The first will be released in January 2010 and the second will be released in June 2010 on underworldlive.com." And then the two unique codes are printed below. Then, in those months they release the EP's on underworldlive.com, and people enter their codes to download them or, if they don't have codes, they can simply buy the EP's at the normal £5 or whatever.

This accomplishes a few things. First of all, it drives physical album sales for people who perceive a greater value for their money. Secondly, it drives more interest and traffic (hopefully traffic which will become regular traffic) to underworldlive.com. Third, it generates interest, because I don't think anyone else has done it quite like this before, and it would make for some good news stories. Finally, it's a way for them to monetize some of the 200-odd unreleased tracks they have lying around.

It might even help sell some of the older material too. Like Dunwho said, a lot of people probably don't know the RiverRuns exist. Well, EVERYONE who buys the album will know about the free RiverRun EP's. They'll get two new ones for free, and after they see what a cool package they are, they might come back and explore some of the older RiverRun releases. And hopefully continue visiting the site for future EP's and digital bundles.

The only downside I can think of is that it would be a little more expensive to do the unique code printing for the flyers, and then you have to set up the website to process and accept the codes for downloading, but neither of those should be a particularly large barrier. Oh, and there should be an expiration date for the codes too, so the redemption system doesn't have to maintained indefinitely. "Codes must be redeemed by Dec. 31, 2011."

Edit: Ooh, this gets better too. To redeem their codes, people have to become registered members of underworldlive.com. So now they get to see all the free goodies (videos, concerts, Books of Jam, etc.) they get in the Members section. They could even have a special webpage for the free EP's, underworldlive.com/freedownload (or something), and before the first release, it could say "The free digital EP's haven't been released yet, but register your e-mail below and we'll e-mail you as soon as it's released. In the meantime, check out the other free goodies you get on underworldlive.com by registering with us." And now they have an e-mail database of pretty much everyone who bought the new album, and they can send out (discrete) marketing spams ("Underworld releases new digital single bundle for Always Loved a Film!").