Despite most bands doing damn near anything to get on 4AD, TV on the Radio affiliates Celebration are parting ways with the celebrated London imprint. Today, the Baltimore outfit announced via their website that they are going the sans-label route, saying they have felt a need for a "barrier-free exchange" and that "the traditional methods of releasing music have put too much distance between us."
From now on, all Celebration releases will be released through the band's website, the band say, with all their new music being posted as free digital downloads and, in the future, vinyl. Two new tracks have already been posted on the website ("I Will Not Fall" and "What's This Magical") and you can download those here either free of charge or by adding some funds to the band's new donation box.
Here's Celebration's statement in full on their newly found independence:
Greetings, Dear Ones,
We, as Celebration, have felt the continual growth of web culture's need for barrier-free exchange. We also feel that the traditional methods of releasing music have put too much distance between us. As we see it, the current music business model is crumbling. We believe their methods waste resources and time in a "print for market world" that no longer makes sense. The birth of the MP3 has dreamt the death of the CD format, and so all across the board, CD sales have dropped. What has given way is something so magical and evolutionary, music has grown, that we have only begun to understand the cultural impact of this sharing. So, past the piles of broken CD cases and badly scratched polycarbonate rainbow discs, there lies a fantastic world of freedom - freedom to share instantly with little or no impact on the environment, in a seemingly infinite, eternal and virtually cost free universe of the world wide web. This is our emancipation. Without the need for manufacturing CDs and the danse macabre of the promotional corporate machine, we can be free to release our music when and how we want - no waiting. We know nothing of the marketing world and don't care about the vampires any more.
Our plan and experiment is to post new songs monthly, as we create and record them. Under the creative commons attribution non-commercial share alike license, all of our new music will be free to download on our website for non-commercial use. When we have enough music for an album, we will release it on vinyl for those who want to have something to hold. As artists we can only stand for our music, our art, our creation. So here it is laid bare. Some may say we are fools. If we be fools, then let us be the Fool of the tarot. The Fool card of the tarot represents a leap of faith, a leap into the unknown, a trust in the adventure of chance. It is in this spirit that we are unvailing a multidimensional, interactive musical Tarot deck, on our new website. We are constructing an experimental place to experience and share our musical vision with you. We strongly encourage you to blog, podcast, email and share links to our music and our site with others. We will post stems in the near future for remixing. If we like your remix, we will post it on our site. This experiment is funded solely by us and those of you who choose to be a part of making the music available. We've added a donation box to the site in hopes that you, our audience, can help support the artist's right to autonomy. Thank you!
So with a leap of faith and fortune, we turn the fate of our future to you. We look forward to the time and moment when we share our music with you - it is our greatest joy.
Love,
Celebration
From now on, all Celebration releases will be released through the band's website, the band say, with all their new music being posted as free digital downloads and, in the future, vinyl. Two new tracks have already been posted on the website ("I Will Not Fall" and "What's This Magical") and you can download those here either free of charge or by adding some funds to the band's new donation box.
Here's Celebration's statement in full on their newly found independence:
Greetings, Dear Ones,
We, as Celebration, have felt the continual growth of web culture's need for barrier-free exchange. We also feel that the traditional methods of releasing music have put too much distance between us. As we see it, the current music business model is crumbling. We believe their methods waste resources and time in a "print for market world" that no longer makes sense. The birth of the MP3 has dreamt the death of the CD format, and so all across the board, CD sales have dropped. What has given way is something so magical and evolutionary, music has grown, that we have only begun to understand the cultural impact of this sharing. So, past the piles of broken CD cases and badly scratched polycarbonate rainbow discs, there lies a fantastic world of freedom - freedom to share instantly with little or no impact on the environment, in a seemingly infinite, eternal and virtually cost free universe of the world wide web. This is our emancipation. Without the need for manufacturing CDs and the danse macabre of the promotional corporate machine, we can be free to release our music when and how we want - no waiting. We know nothing of the marketing world and don't care about the vampires any more.
Our plan and experiment is to post new songs monthly, as we create and record them. Under the creative commons attribution non-commercial share alike license, all of our new music will be free to download on our website for non-commercial use. When we have enough music for an album, we will release it on vinyl for those who want to have something to hold. As artists we can only stand for our music, our art, our creation. So here it is laid bare. Some may say we are fools. If we be fools, then let us be the Fool of the tarot. The Fool card of the tarot represents a leap of faith, a leap into the unknown, a trust in the adventure of chance. It is in this spirit that we are unvailing a multidimensional, interactive musical Tarot deck, on our new website. We are constructing an experimental place to experience and share our musical vision with you. We strongly encourage you to blog, podcast, email and share links to our music and our site with others. We will post stems in the near future for remixing. If we like your remix, we will post it on our site. This experiment is funded solely by us and those of you who choose to be a part of making the music available. We've added a donation box to the site in hopes that you, our audience, can help support the artist's right to autonomy. Thank you!
So with a leap of faith and fortune, we turn the fate of our future to you. We look forward to the time and moment when we share our music with you - it is our greatest joy.
Love,
Celebration