Discount Bin Record Distribution: The 49 Cent Album?

Paul Westerberg, frontman for early alternative rock band The Replacements has released a 49 cent album. The piece is titled “49″ in homage to the price, which is based on his half joking idea of “a penny a minute”. The album contains no track listing or lyrics, and is a jumbled 44 minutes of freewheeling, choppy, chaotic music. Amazon was reported to be the only vendor that would take on such a crazy low price point (they couldn’t do the original 44 cent price - too low). Westerberg has taken a decidedly loose and sloppy, low tech approach in creating and distributing this project, but with easy to use web tools at his disposal the point is - he can.

Billboard reports:

“He finished it on Monday, sent it to me on Tuesday and it was out this weekend,” Westerberg manager Darren Hill tells Billboard.com. “It’s just wonderful that you can actually do this. The freedom an artist can enjoy these days is fantastic. Can you imagine me pitching this idea to a label?”

…

Westerberg played all the instruments on the decidedly lo-fi recordings, which often feature two songs playing at once for a few seconds and short snippets that abruptly cut off. “It’s almost like you’re scanning a radio dial,” Hill says. “You’re getting a glimpse inside of Paul’s head here.”

[Billboard via Stereogum]