For those who aren’t on the PIG forum I’ve just received some great news from the slaughterfront. First off, Ray has released a new single titled Preach which is available for download thru theswining.com
But you get it thru paypal. It’s only a dollar. I don’t have a paypal account so I can’t tell you how it sounds. But here’s the big news from an admin on theswining
This is gonna be long. Bear with me, lots to say.
Thanks for the feedback regarding the digital download method of delivery, the need NOT to remaster the later stuff (barring Pigmata/tyr) and the need to really unflatten the earlier stuff. Everything you guys are sounding off about is getting listened to. This is a really uncertain time because album sales are so diabolically shite that the deals people are getting with labels are just terrible. WE have to make the rules and do the thing that is going to cause the least financial risk and the biggest fan and artist satisfaction. This is an anti-label we’re starting here and it totally hinges on you guys and your support.
I’ll admit that the digital download was the only thing I could fire Raymond up about because it didn’t require him to take money out of his thin monthly budget and piss it into the wind on the hopes some will come back. I don’t know if you realise, but the last tour cost him a good £10k. It’s not easy to come back from that without being pretty shellshocked and gunshy. We’re dealing with a veterano here.
When you’re a single parent, the things you used to spend hours doing seem frivolous and childish when it isn’t a point A to point B path to getting your children fed, clothed, kept in comfort. While all of us as fans understand that Raymond’s artistic contribution is not just the reason we’ve all gathered, but the reason we make PIG-related art, do cover versions, get the logo tattooed to our very bodies, put the music on for our friends and tell them to shut up and listen, buy and wear the shirts around, quote the fucker in our sigs, and enjoy that under-advertised, overpriced, badly planned gig more than the regular people enjoy their slick stadium shows. These aren’t even the real nutters, these are just the every day guys and girls that are PIG fans.
I love the suggestion of a donation button but we’re going to first try to present other opportunities for you to line the Piggy coffers where you get something in return. ALL proceeds on everything goes back into making more, so that creation time for Raymond becomes a negative expense and might even turn a little extra.
I note that some of you said you prefer physical media. So do I, absolutely. Nothing can replace the feeling of seeing the artwork for the first time and the presence of it on your shelves can’t be replaced. Anybody can download. Owning the CD is the mark of a music lover and a true fan. This is a fact that comes into play down the road. This is only the first stage.
If you strip away the label guys with their attention to everything at once, and therefore nothing when it counts, and the shady representatives skimming off the cream and refusing to pay royalties, and the people who just want to put their name next to his, all we’ve got is Raymond and his fans, and there is no better way to make shit happen than meeting his output with support in bigger and bigger measures until we get what we want: new music, a well-booked and supported tour, video, and repeat. And repeat.
Right now, sales are steady, though not at avalanche level, but this is only day one and a bit. There’s hope on the horizon.
(cue Seven Veils intro)
I’m going to be asking you a lot of questions in the next few days. I’m also going to send out the first mass email to the members of this board with stuff you regulars will already know. I’m also going to call on a few of you to help us out with the vaults, so if you have bootlegs or rare stuff in a high quality format and you’re willing to help, let me know. If any of you regulars want to get your hands dirty and help out, let me know. We’ve got to keep rattling the cages or it’ll all go quiet again, and that is not an option.
If YOU have any questions, PM me. If I don’t know right away, I’ll ask Raymond. Note that he goes quiet sometimes. We’ll both have to find patience in that case, but I won’t let it drop.
Tell everyone. Post about Preach in other forums, add it to your sig, tweet it, make it your status, whatever. Let’s get this motherfucker done.
(Oh-wee-oh…)
Hope everyone can read that so far.
I then gave some suggestions on what can be done and here’s what he told me
Since you brought some of them up, I’ll tell you what’s in the works:
Now:
Official Facebook (because it’s the easiest way to link lots of stuff together)
New robust player on the old MySpace (even though it is indeed losing favour)
Email list - announcements only.
Within the month:
Launch of the new design and new CMS
Another track for direct sale
The official digital archive started (videos, bootlegs, rarities)
Advertising on sympathetic forums
Making Hamerican PIG show footage available
Reissue status:
=Clarifying what rights are where and removing the albums from the digital catalogues of those whose rights have expired
=Creating both FLAC and high quality mp3 album versions of later albums
=Creating the DEFINITIVE versions of each album
=Revisiting the ‘brightening’ process for older albums (the masters weren’t used for the Cleopatra stuff that was illegally reissued, but in some cases, the masters aren’t available)
=Digitising Raymond’s collection of videos
=Beginning the process of nagging Raymond into unearthing live tracks he may have kicking around
Worth considering:
=The essential PIG, for new fans. This was always a consideration but when funding collapsed, so did that possibility. We’ve found a way to do it but it still requires a bit of money.
=A Twitter. People check that shit every day. It could work to gather some fans who aren’t on FB or MySpace and get them reading.
Keep the ideas coming!
Oh - the vinyl, it requires enough sales of other things to fund a vinyl release, as the risk is high. (No on demand possible.) This has been tried by friends of PIG recently and it hasn’t worked out. The chances are slim, but it’d be great if we could.
And yes this deserves the flame. PIG has been a big topic of discussion in other threads and I know this will make some ppl happy
