The Nuts + Berries EP is slowly popping up on several online music retailers.
It’s on sale at Amazon and the iTunes store. More stores coming soon. And I’ll be selling download cards at my show at the Larimer Lounge on Feb. 12.
Here it is: the cover of the Nuts + Berries debut EP, due in January:
Sara Dillon did great work designing the cover after some freewheeling discussions about what it should look like. I think music has reached the point where it’s sold as a confection, like a Happy Meal. And if you’ve been to the iTunes store lately, you know songs are selling for less than kids’ meals.
In keeping with this cheap and shameless commercialism, I wanted something sleek and striking on the cover — a sort of Nuts + Berries corporate logo. The Puma emblem was an inspiration. I think Sara nailed it, and she added an extra element with the leaves in the bottom right corner. (We have a back cover drawn up but it’s unclear if back covers will survive 2009, or if the EP will ever appear on CD or any other physical format.)
With each new Nuts + Berries release, we’ll rebrand the band and create a new logo for the cover. Sara and I are already kicking around ideas for the forthcoming LP.
Other inspirations for the cover concept: the Smiths’ distinctive but endlessly flexible cover stars, Peter Saville’s minimalist cover art for Joy Division and other bands, and various European soccer team emblems.
U.S. album sales down nearly 22 percent from last December, Reuters says. Buying CDs at non-traditional vendors like Starbucks is up, but it’s not offsetting the death of the album. Meanwhile, more than 1 billion digital tracks — tracks, not albums — will be downloaded this year, the LA Times reports. We’re returning to 45s.
This isn’t all bad. Digital music is cheap to produce and release. The Nuts + Berries EP won’t be available on CD, at least not initially. That makes me a little sad. But I’ll be able to get my songs to more people using mp3s than I could have using CDs. I’ll be selling Dropcards — credit card-sized vouchers for downloading the EP and the cover art — at shows. It’ll be much cheaper than a CD (probably $4 or $5). I’m also working to put the songs on iTunes or a similar service. I’ll be able to self-release my stuff for a few hundred bucks. This would have cost thousands to do with CDs.
I’m convinced these changes are going to democratize the music business. I can get together with a few friends and start an indie label for less than the price of a flat screen TV. And I probably will. So will lots of other musicians. Stay tuned.
The Bedsit Infamy rehearsed Friday night because our show is 10 p.m. tonight at the Larimer Lounge. Let me show you what it’s like to be in this band.
Billy shows off his guitar chops:
Hear it now
Listen now