Friday, October 09, 2009
Urthboy tees off tour with OZ first
Urthboy tees off tour with OZ first
Released: 9 October 2009
Touring hip hop artist Urthboy is the first Australian performer to bridge the digital music and merchandise gap by selling ‘musical tees’ during his current National Spitshine Tour.
Musical tees marry fashion and music by combining digital music download cards loaded with an artist’s tracks into garment swing tags.
The tags, a concept by Queensland company Bandtag, are then teamed with Urthboy tour t- shirts so fans ‘take the band home’ and musicians keep in touch with their tribe.
Bandtag says the concept ensures artists like Urthboy distribute and promote their music easily and inexpensively, as well as staying in touch with their audiences. Meanwhile, fans take their cards, redeem them online and download their tracks instantly.
This evolution in buying music at live gigs is the brainchild of Bandtag CEO Erin Wheatley, who teamed up with Urthboy Tim Levinson, also lead singer with The Herd, for the initiative.
Erin says artists are embracing new technologies like Bandtag to create new distribution channels and methods, while remaining profitable.
“Bandtag gives them a direct artist-fan relationship where they connect online, directly, sharing their content,” she says.
“There is a plethora of music out there and artists really need to build their own tribe around the band, offering new and exclusive content all the time.”
The industry has embraced the Bandtag concept, recently hailed as ‘a bridge between the live space and the digital world’ by The Music Network.
Tim says the ‘new musical environment’ faced by his label Elefant Traks, which produces Urthboy, The Herd and Urthboy’s touring partners Horrorshow – makes thinking outside the
square a necessity. “We don’t want to turn our fans into villains; we want to work with them,” says Tim.
“The industry has to adjust to less physical purchases of their material.
“Urthboy Musical Tees is us thinking outside the square with Bandtag’s concept.”
Spitshine is Urthboy’s third solo album currently being taken across all states on their National Spitshine Tour with 26 dates ending on November 14 2009.
www.bandtag.com.au
For interviews, high res images or more information, contact:
Erin Wheatley – CEO
erin@bandtag.com.au
0410 530 633 or 07 55 290 899
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