They Might Be Giants To Release MP3 Album

02/18/1999 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(2/18/99, 1 p.m. PST) - The future of MP3, the format that allows computer users to download near-CD-quality sound files from the Internet, got another boost today with the announcement that They Might Be Giants will introduce an album's worth of material via MP3 in the coming months.

The band's deal with GoodNoise (www.goodnoise.com) comes on the heels of the deal the company signed with Rykodisc (LAUNCH, 2/5). It includes the simultaneous release of five TMBG albums and 100 tracks at GoodNoise, as well as the group's official website (www.tmbg.com), beginning today.

"We knew a couple of years ago there was a lot of trading of Dial-A-Song files in MP3, TMBG's John Flansburgh says, referring to the service the band currently offers that allows fans to hear a different new song every hour (www.dialasong.com). "It's always surprising where the next medium for music comes from, and even more surprising how any people, especially music people, think nothing will ever change. When we made our first indie album in the late '80s, the record company didn't even want to make CDs. We had to find another indie to manufacture a CD after the album took off."

Flansburgh added that the new MP3 release would "collect a lot of Dial-A-Song recordings, and preview some of our upcoming album material as well as find a home for some of the wilder songs."

Further evidence of the new format's popularity came with the announcement that Noisebox.com plans to present the First Annual MP3 Music Awards (www.noisebox.com/awards) this spring. The event will invite listeners to vote for their favorite MP3 artists.

To read a They Might Be Giants feature, click here.

-- Stephen Peters

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