It was not so long ago that I was really digging Einsturzende Neubauten’s music. Saw them live back in the day, and it had a deep influence on the amount of noise and chaos that’s evident in my own music. I haven’t heard much from Neubauten in recent years and never looked too deeply into why that is. I’m constantly surrounded by so much fantastic music. This often deters me from looking too far for more. Well, it turns out that the reason I hadn’t heard much from Einsturzende Neubauten in recent years is that they changed their methods of releasing music. And I am absolutely intrigued by what they’ve been doing! Neubauten decided to create a new way for fans to support the band’s musical efforts directly, rather than through a record label.
Einsturzende Neubauten - “Armenia”
A New Music Strategy
So, what they’ve done is basically take preorders for albums that they haven’t even started yet. In return, they deliver more than just the final product to their supporters - they share the entire process with each future recipient. Fans receive not only a CD and/or DVD at the end of a phase, they get access to webcasts all along the way, and invitations to exclusive private concerts. Webcasts from the studio, on tour, whatever’s clever. This method is decreasing Neubauten’s dependency on record label support and bringing them closer to die-hard fans. Meanwhile, the release that is distributed to supporters of this system never gets released to the public. Usually a portion of the album will be used along with other material for a regular record label release, but the majority of tracks are exclusive to the supporters’ system.
I think this is just too wonderful. Every band should do this at least once. It seems like it would really check your ego about how many people can’t live without your music! And how many need to be reached out to in order to buy an album, the way a record label operates.
In 2003, supporters received the first CD distributed by the new system. In 2004, a third of that album was offered to the public as Perpetuum Mobile on Mute Records. The next phase began immediately after the first phase ended, and produced a studio album titled Grundstueck and a DVD of the same name, but the recording of a supporter-exclusive concert in Berlin. Neither were ever released to the public. Which brings us to phase 3.
Phase 3
Phase 3 is currently nearing it’s end and will produce a CD and DVD as always. It’s a bit late to become a supporter of this phase since most of the super cool benefits have already happened. However, much of the album that has been recorded is going to be released to the public this time. So, if you’ve been wondering what Einsturzende Neubauten has been up to, and what they sound like these days, this may be your big chance. Who knows, maybe you’ll become an avid supporter of future phases.
All Open Again - Alles Wieder Offen
The new album is titled ALLES WIEDER OFFEN which translates to ALL OPEN AGAIN and it will be released by Neubauten’s own label, Potomak, then distributed by Ryko in the US. ALLES WIEDER OFFEN is released on October 23rd - just in time for the witching hour…
Einstürzende Neubauten - “Stella Maris”
Did you know that Einsturzende Neubauten translates (basically) to Collapsing New Buildings? Now you do, and if it comes up in a trivia game, you’ll have the edge.
LINKS
The official website for Einsturzende Neubauten
EN en ENglish
More info about phase 3
Neubauten wiki
Einsturzende Neubauten’s Perpetuum Mobile on Boomcat - vinyl or cd with streaming previews…
Einstürzende Neubauten - “Autobahn”
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