[Merged with parts of the Poisonoise-thread/Admin]
Black Axe wrote:
DaN wrote:As a "marketing stragety" it's probably the most decent one I've come across so far.
Not responding to e-mails is not very decent.
Busy guys with limited internet access? Or just plain shy?
I see nothing wrong with bringing back a little mystery & wonder into today's information-age-haunted Metal Scene. And they DO have the music to back up this bold strategy imho.
Last edited by DaN on Sat Apr 04, 2009 1:33 am, edited 4 times in total.
Oh please, let's not start again this discussion about their ''clever'' experiments on the underground and such crap. It's pretty obvious that they do NOT convince everyone with their attitude...better stick to musical part only.
I have already said what i think about them. And it was very kind of wom who uploaded their album for those who are interested in hearing it, but personally i'm not one of them, so i can't really make a comment on this upload.
On a sidenote, the only thing i ever heard from them, a 7", before they turned my stomach upside down, was simply decent. Not groundbreaking nor essential nor must-to-hear or anything like that. It's not the band that everyone should fall to his knees and worship no matter what. Well, in my opinion of course...
Good against Evil, Evil sure to win
"It really didn't matter if they liked it or not, i was going to give it to them straight down their throats" -John Stewart
ION BRITTON wrote:Oh please, let's not start again this discussion about their ''clever'' experiments on the underground and such crap. It's pretty obvious that they do NOT convince everyone with their attitude...better stick to musical part only.
I have already said what i think about them. And it was very kind of wom who uploaded their album for those who are interested in hearing it, but personally i'm not one of them, so i can't really make a comment on this upload.
On a sidenote, the only thing i ever heard from them, a 7", before they turned my stomach upside down, was simply decent. Not groundbreaking nor essential nor must-to-hear or anything like that. It's not the band that everyone should fall to his knees and worship no matter what. Well, in my opinion of course...
I really don't think they're out to gather minions to worship their clever ways. Imo they've just applied a very radical and anti-commercial (COMMIE ANARCHIST BASTARDS!) way of distributing their shit.
I just can't help feeling a wee bit sympathetic towards their ambitions to Do Things Differently. At first I was sceptical when reading this thread, but the more I thought about it the more I liked their 'concept'. So they're not the most amazingly überbestest new band on the block that some claim, but what I've heard so far I like a lot. Once again: Mystery & Wonder - not to be underestimated.
Problem is that i don't like the way they want to create the Mystery and Wonder around their name. I also haven't any reason not to believe daniel or the others whose e-mails went unanswered when they politely asked them if they could give them some info/send them their release etc., that's a very lame attitude for me.
Wanting to be anticommercial for the Masses (the 'M' capital) and not wanting to follow the modern way of advertising your band is something i can understand to a certain degree, but these guys here are simply overdoing it. With their decision not to press more copies when the number of people who are interested in them is constantly much greater than the # of copies pressed and their selective way of distributing their stuff means wanting to be anticommercial even to a small part of the underground, which isn't really crowded in our days..
OK, at the end of the day it's their music and their money and they can do whatever they like with it. However i personally don't have to applaud their way of thinking nor continue searching for their stuff and showing interest for them and "begging" them for giving me a chance to hear their music, that wouldn't be very decent of me. Sorry, but I just don't buy the honesty of their attitude and the purity of their intentions.
Good against Evil, Evil sure to win
"It really didn't matter if they liked it or not, i was going to give it to them straight down their throats" -John Stewart
What I think is wrong about their way to spread their music is that they're provoking their records to go for crazy prices on eBay, so all that "anti-commercial" stuff goes down the drain because there's still people making a lot of money for something they got for free.
what they are doing doesnt really bother me at all.
They are giving their stuff away for free and all the funding is coming from their own pockets. so of course they cant make more than a 100 or so LPs.
They arnt asking people to pay stupid prices for the stuff on ebay either,
if someone wants to bid 300 dollars on their record, how is that in their control?
Though I like the music of TOM, I totally lost all interest in the band due to their phony wannabe-attitude. I first heard about them when I bought their 7" and demo for 15 GBP from someone who got a couple of 'em for free. I liked it and wrote a review for it, which Axe then asked me to take offline again, cause he doesn't want people to hear about his band through a web zine... I later on got a copy of their LP for free but until now I've not listened to it once, cause I think the attitude of the band sucks and I don't wanna be a fan of a band whose releases I cannot look forward to cause there'll always be a good chance that I won't be among the luck 10 or 20 guys who'll get the newest ultra-trve accetate for free...
There are a lot of bands out there that release obscure demos and live recordings in a very limited number, like Hour Of 13 for example, but all these bands also put out regular releases that everyone can listen to and not just their buddies... I'm not a completist and I don't need to own every single song a band has ever recorded, but if I can't get any releases at all unless I kiss the band's ass and tell 'em over and over again how cool they are and how much I'd love to be on their mailing list for the next cult item, I'd rather pass 'em by completely. From the few emails we exchanged it seems as if Axe is quite a nice guy, but the whole "we're obscurer than you" attitude is just so damn phony that it totally spoils the band for me... to bad, cause the music really aint' that shabby at all...
Johnny_Cool wrote:I liked it and wrote a review for it, which Axe then asked me to take offline again, cause he doesn't want people to hear about his band through a web zine...
I'm not a completist and I don't need to own every single song a band has ever recorded, but if I can't get any releases at all unless I kiss the band's ass and tell 'em over and over again how cool they are and how much I'd love to be on their mailing list for the next cult item, I'd rather pass 'em by completely.
Very well said, Johnny_Cool.
Good against Evil, Evil sure to win
"It really didn't matter if they liked it or not, i was going to give it to them straight down their throats" -John Stewart
The thing was that ToM were supposed to send Tobi a box of LP:s, and I was going to get one of them, after my futile attempts to register on their cult radar, he only ended up getting one record though, which doesn't matter at this point, cos I'd rather listen to this 'Legs and Lipstick' 7" I'm playing right now than bother with those POSERS anymore. And yes if I got an LP or whatever for free in the post tomorrow or ever I'd still feel that way.
Are you the tyrant, who cast them to the sea?
One day you'll be among the dead.
Yeah, Axe told me he was goin' to send me a couple of LPs which I was goin' to give away to people for free, charging only a few bucks to cover the postage. In the end I only got one LP, while other people I know got several copies and offered the additional ones for 100 Euro each... guess that's what it ends like if you try too hard to be the most obscure and mysterious band on earth...
Why should I? As I said earlier, I think the band's whole attitute towards the distribution of their releases sucks big time, so it's not my job to clean up after 'em and make sure noone takes advantage of gettin' their ultralimited and highly sought-after releases for free... honestly, is anybody really surprised that the LP is offered for sale at message boards for 100 Euro or sells at Ebay for 300 Dollars? I am not.
If that's what TOM want, then that's what it shall be... I personally won't have a bad conscience at all if someday I put my own copy up on ebay and score a good price for it. After all, I'm not the one responsible for all the hype and fake-mystery and if people feel like paying that much money for an LP simply cause it's been treated by the band and its fans like the obscurest ultra-rarity ever, then it's their problem, not mine...
I offered Axe more than once to pay for my LP like a regular customer and I also know that several labels were interested in giving the LP an official release. So in my opinion it's really not a question of "We don't have enough money to get more than a 100 records out to the fans" but rather of "We don't wanna get more than a 100 records out to the fans, cause as soon as we do, we'll no longer be the obscurest band on earth"... sorry guys, but this attitude's just phony as hell to me...
You should post the name of the dealer in question because if you state something like this and do not cite names it just serves as speculation. If you feel compelled to use it as an argument, then better cite the name so it would be a fact.
Actually, it doesn't change a thing... I know a spare copy of the LP has been offered for 100 Euro by a member of a forum that I'm registered to as well, I know a copy of the LP has been sold on ebay for more than 300 Dollars and I know I had to pay 15 GBP for my 7"... things like these happen, no matter whether the band and their fans wanna see it or not... it's not my turn to call any names or expose those who exploit the band's gratitude. I couldn't care less if the same guys, who sell their LPs for huge sums on the internet, stay on TOM's mailing list forever and receive record after record just to sell 'em for a lot of bucks two months later.
And as I said earlier, I personally got no problem at all with people selling their TOM LPs for nice amounts of money on the internet, just like I got no problem with people selling their Wyzard, Solar Eagle or X-Caliber LPs for ridiculous prices. If someone wants to pay several hundret bucks for a Tales Of Medusa LP, that's actually his problem, not mine...
