A lot of you probably have heard of GrooveShark.com, the streaming site driven by uploaded songs. I have no idea on the legality of the site, I just dig that I can search for practically any song and version (live, remixed, acoustic,) and stream it for free! You can dive into an artist’s catalog and really explore without any commitment (I know downloading an album takes minutes, but that’s forever in internet time).

What I found interesting was on one particular search-”Walkin on a Dream” by Empire of The Sun. As the results came in, an add popped up asking me if I wanted to listen to the album while also letting me know that I could buy the premium vinyl edition.  Since I liked the single, I said why not? Immediately, the entire album appeared in my play-list.  I took a listen purely based on that. I had no interest in checking out the album before, but took a chance based on the very relevant ad.

Here’s a band/label that understands music lovers of today.  Instead of fighting a popular service like GrooveShark, the band worked with the site to get the attention of a potential artist fan (as opposed to the single-song fan, which I unfortunately, still am).  They weren’t even pushing a paid digital dowload, they were pushing the vinyl!  They knew I probably wouldn’t pay for something I just got access to (from their ad) and can stream anytime. That’s thinking smart. If they had actually made me a super fan, I probably would have bought that Vinyl.

Hoover