Wilco have posted a free stream of their latest album, Wilco (The Album), on their website, more than a month before the record is set to come out in stores. The band famously offered 2001’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot for free online after Reprise deemed it to uncommercial to release; the resulting fall-out helped launch them to their current level of stardom. The band is hoping you’ll make a donation to charity for the stream. They’re also hosting a midnight screening of their new DVD, Ashes of American Flags, on their site tonight.
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The band released the following statement:
Well, we made it nearly a month with copies of Wilco (the album) floating around out there before it leaked. Pretty impressive restraint in this day and age. But the inevitable happened last night. Since we know you’re curious and probably have better things to do than scour the internet for a download (though we do understand the attraction of the illicit), we’ve posted a stream of the full album at http://beta.wilcoworld.net/records/thealbum/index.php . Feel free to refer to it as “wilco (the stream)” if you must.
We also have our usual guilt abatement plan for downloaders. If you have downloaded the record, we suggest you make a donation to one of the band’s favorite charities, the Inspiration Corporation — an organization we’ve supported in the past & who are doing great work in the city of Chicago. Information and donation button here: http://inspirationcorp.org/.
That’s all. Enjoy the stream. Tickets for summer shows, etc. http://wilcoworld.net/tours/ . Note that we’ll be holding a free online midnight screening of the “Ashes of American Flags” film this Friday night (at both midnight US Central time and again at midnight Pacific). So get the popcorn or whatever together and be sure to log on and tune in on Friday.
Who does more for their fans than Wilco? These guys always something “extra special” for the folks who suport them. Bravo!!