motd.co
DJ Shadow Can't Internet
I mean, his “people” can’t internet. I read that he had some new tracks available for free on his website, but I was not prepared for what was going to happen next. Look at this awesomeness, from the link above:
THIS DOWNLOAD PRODUCT IS FREE FOR 24 HOURS. WHEN CHECKING OUT, YOU MUST SELECT A PAYMENT METHOD, BUT IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING ELSE IN YOUR CART (AND THE TOTAL IS $0), SIMPLY SELECT THE PAYMENT METHOD AND THEN CLICK “PLACE ORDER” WITHOUT ADDING CREDIT CARD DETAILS, AND YOU WILL RECEIVE YOUR DOWNLOAD LINK ON AN INVOICE PAGE. THE DOWNLOAD WILL ALSO BE EMAILED TO YOU. DO NOT SELECT “PAYPAL” AS YOUR METHOD FOR ONLY A FREE DOWNLOAD. PLEASE EMAIL US WITH ANY QUESTIONS.
By the way, you also need to create an ACCOUNT with his own personal web store in order to download your free tracks. Of course, among all of this extra bullshit infrastructure, his site manages to be constantly down for hours, making the tracks impossible to download for all but the most patient (or smart, who will grab it from a music blog once they put it up). Here’s a hint: if the URL for “free MP3s” that you’re offering includes the word “merchant” twice, you’re doing it wrong.
Compare this to Kanye West, who for the last month has released MP3s every Friday on usershare.net (and probably has a massively larger number of people interested in copping his tracks). Two clicks, no downtime. If an artist like DJ Shadow wanted to prove he was still relevant almost 5 years after releasing his last (and mediocre) album, this is not the way to go about it.