Edit! I've been informed that the websites that this post talks about are Chinese and not Japanese. Duh! Sorry guys, I suppose I need a lesson in asian internet culture!
When I search I usually click on the "Blogs" tab and the "Forums" tab because that is usually where I can find people discussing our music. Now a recent google search of "The Dreamer and the Sleeper" turned up some rather strange results.
What I found was our new album "Autumn in the Evening" up for illegal download on a number of blogs (I only say illegal because they don't have our permission but obviously I couldn't give two shits, as long as people are listening!). But this is not the weird part. As I started looking at the blogs I quickly noticed that I couldn't read anything people were saying about the album, because to my amusement, they were all Chinese!
I got this weird feeling as I was looking at these sites that I can only describe as "amazement". How cool is it that a non-touring band can record an album, and somehow, through the magic of technology people are listening to it in a country thousands of miles away.
Now we have all heard this huge debate that has been going on over the past 10 or 15 years between the record labels and just about everyone who has ever used the internet. "Your stealing!", the industry folks cry! But if a band who has never played a show outside of California can record an album for free in their home studio, and without even trying have people in freaking CHINA spread it around for them... obviously these record labels and industry folks are not embracing what is an absolutely amazing opportunity.
I could go deeper into this, discussing album leaks and the like, (because obviously those stink for artists!) but that horse was beat to death a long time ago and that's not really the point of this post. I basically just wanted to express my amazement in what technology has done for us as a band. And although it seems that the music industry MAY finally be catching up to the technology (see: last.fm or grooveshark) it sure seems to me that an endlessly valuable tool has been wasted by them for almost two decades.
Either way it's incredible that there is someone in China right now with D&S jamming on their iPod (or whatever crazy awesome gadget they have over there now-a-days) and my fingers are crossed that we blow the eff up over there. Keep spreading that shit guys, maybe someday we'll make it across the water. (see what I did there?)
