Pennywise's experiment with free online distribution has apparently turned into a major success for the band. According to an OC Register report, the album has been downloaded more than 400,000 times and has resulted in the band's highest charting single to date. The track, "The Western World" debuted at No. 34 on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks.
The band commented:
"The minute you give away something free, you're setting yourself up for disaster. Are we gonna sell 10 records? Are we gonna do 100,000, or 5,000, or 500,000? We don't know. It's never been done. But we figured, worst-case scenario, we're gonna be able to get our music and our message out to potentially millions of people at the click of a button.
"The whole time that this stock market of music has been busy spiking and plunging, we've just been down here cruising along. We've had success, but it's come in these tiny little increments. We never wanted to be rock stars – we still don't."
The band was equally blunt about the dissolving of their lengthy relationship with Epitaph:
"No one was really excited about doing the next Pennywise record at Epitaph. You could almost sense it in the air there: 'We love you guys, but we gotta do something new."
In regards to downloading, they noted:
"Who goes to buy a new pair of pants without trying them on, you know? If you're a band you should be so confident in your music you can say, 'Here, try it. If you like it, buy it.'"
You can find the rest of the interview here.
Thanks for the report to Punknews.org.
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