Just getting around to some bits of music housekeeping I’ve been meaning to mention:

1. Mos Def Sells New Album on T-shirt

About a year and a half ago I wrote a post called Sell Music On ANYTHING! where I suggested that since digital technology had recently liberated music from its previously contrived confinement on things like tape and plastic and vinyl, the really exciting thing wasn’t that it was no longer necessary to sell music on something, but that it was now possible to sell music on ANYTHING!

It turns out Mos Def had the same exact notion. Case in point:

Mos Def’s New Album Available as T-Shirt

Here’s a new one: Mos Def‘s BNM’ed new album The Ecstatic is available as a T-shirt. As in: You can buy a shirt that has The Ecstatic‘s Killer of Sheep-interpolating cover art on the front, its tracklist on the back, and a download code for the album on a hang tag.

Selling albums these days is hard! So the music/fashion company Invisible DJ, working with the fashion designer LnA, has come up with this idea called the Music Tee.

The Ecstatic is the first album available in the Music Tee format. Mos Def’s Downtown Music labelmates Santigold and Miike Snow also have Music Tees on the way.

One prophecy down.

As companies such as Invisible DJ and Dropcards spring up to corner the various new mediums that music can be sold on, it’s time for brands to start paying attention to what’s going on here. After all, why start a new shoe company to sell music on, when you could just sell new music on the shoes you’re already producing if you’re, say, Nike? I’ve written before about how brands are behaving more and more like record labels by teaming with music acts in various ways in order to create relevance and cultural salience — and in the process bands are benefiting from the partnership by taking advantage of the brand’s marketing reach to access an even greater audience for their music. Perhaps the new incarnation for “record labels” is in the guise of marketing agencies. In the aftermath of Vibe Magazine’s recent demise, Jeff Chang, music journalist and author of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation spurred a discussion on Twitter (which he re-posted on his blog) musing on the future of magazines, especially those focusing on urban culture. Chang writes:

For what it’s worth, most of the mags I know in the high 10,000 – low 100,000 circulation realm have become quasi- or real marketing agencies. I think of magazines like URB, The Fader, and Juxtapoz, and Swindle as businesses that are working. But there are a number of ancillary units working there aside from the content work. All of them have massive marketing arms. Juxtapoz is part of the Upper Playground clothing/street art business. Swindle is part of Shepard Fairey’s empire.

But yeah, media qua media? Not so much…

Alan Light, a music journalist and editor who’s worked with Vibe, Spin, and Rolling Stone, among others added that the magazine parts of the marketing companies are “A good investment in terms of visibility. As a kind of calling card for the rest of the operation where the profits are.” Since the music industry is in pretty much the same shape as magazines perhaps it might be time for labels to start exploring this sort of culture creation / marketing agency model as well? One prophecy to go.

2. The Glitch Mob’s Summer Tour: “More Voltage”

I helped out with refining the tour concept and now I’m all bummed none of the dates are gonna be on the East Coast. Boo.

3. New music I’ve been listening to on repeat: Beats Antique

Their new album, “Contraption” is some seriously awesome shit. Have a listen:

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And Bandcamp, the service they’re using to release the music, is definitely looking like something to keep an eye on.