Toronto copyfightin' band Barenaked Ladies have gone remix crazy, inviting fans to remix their music, make their own t-shirts, and generally be as creative as they want with BNL's stuff. They call this "shifting the focus to the fan and letting them decide how they want to consume the music," which is such a radically sensible idea. I loved these guys when they were performing at the Scarborough Town Centre, up the street from my parents' place — I love them even more now.
The band will re-package five of the best remixes in one CD, with proceeds going to charity.
The band has a new 13-song CD out, but had too many tracks for it and didn't want to toss the ones that didn't make the CD.
The 16 songs that didn't make it will be sold online. Consumers can download the songs, buy a deluxe CD package or get a USB stick containing all 29 songs.
"People will not often even listen to a record anymore. They might download the songs and just listen to it on shuffle with all your other music or a bunch of other bands they like," said Robertson.
That's not the end of the fan interaction. The band is also asking fans to download the song Wind It Up from the MySpace website and to film themselves playing along. Top performances will be mixed together for the actual video.
Those with artistic aspirations can also enter a T-shirt design competition, with the winner receiving more than $1,000 in prizes.
(Thanks, Mike!)
Update: Alas, the t-shirt design contest has expired! Thanks, Gen.
