I was going to write a long piece about how the old way of selling records/CDs through shops meant that the artist got very little of the money that the audience paid for music, about how downloads make it possible for a lot more of what you pay to actually get back to the artist and about how downloads are enabling lots of small-scale artists to make their music available in ways they never could before. Then it occurred to me that everyone knows that already.
Ok, the big download sites such as iTunes still take a stupid chunk of the cash, and impose all sorts of restrictions on how things can be sold (they set the price, for example) but if artists can set up their own download store linked to their own website then most of the middlemen are taken out of the chain and you get more of a 'fair trade' situation where you know the money you pay is mostly going where you want it to, back to the artist.
It has been suggested that in purely capitalist terms an mp3 file has no value because the supply is effectively infinite, and it is definitely true that if you want to, and know where to look, you can probably download almost any tune you want for nothing. But, the great thing is that if you actually want to support your favourite artist so they can go on making more of the music you love then buying from their store will do exactly that and you know you are not just giving money to retailers, distributors, manufacturers, trucking companies etc. etc...
Guessed where this is going yet?
The Big Announcement:
On Monday we are unveiling our new download store. We will have available all the Banco albums and singles so far released since the 'Desert Wind' EP in 1993 up to the 'Kara Kum' remixes in 2006, plus some other goodies not easily/ever available before. We will be making them available cheaper than other commercial download sites and in higher quality than other sites, and the cash comes back to us so you know it makes sense to buy it here, right?
And those other 'goodies'?
Firstly: we are packaging all the remixes from all the singles from 1993 onwards into one 'album' (I'm not sure what you're supposed to call it these days when there is no physical album, but I'm sure you get what I mean). That's 24 tracks, including some very rare and one never even commercially released before, all for a very silly price.
Secondly: we are packaging all the Banco tracks from the old 'Ambient Dub' compilations from 1992/93 into another 'album'. 7 tracks, including the extremely hard to find (unless you have the even older cassette albums) 'Soufie', and all for an even sillier price.
And thirdly: finally available will be the full length version of the Banco cover version of Pink Floyd's 'Echoes'. That's the full 23 minute version in all it's humble tribute glory, Dave Gilmour guitar impressions included...
Later on we're planning to put up all sorts of other bits and pieces which won't be seeing a full CD release, including live recordings from various periods and possible collaborations with other artists. Also, we hope to be adding releases from some of our other favourite artists and friends so hopefully you'll be able to check out some other interesting music you might not otherwise have come across.
So there you are. A new store and new tunes (and old tunes) and a new way to support what we're doing. Announcements will go out on Monday and I'll also post the website address here, as well as a link appearing at banco.co.uk but remember, you heard it here first.
