Merge offers free digital download of The Clientele album to vinyl buyers

This is absolutely amazing news. I would definitely buy more vinyl and music in general if I were also given a digital copy. Hopefully, other record companies will follow suit.

Download E.M.P.T.Y. (MP3)

Press Release

The mad scientists at Merge corporate record headquarters in Durham, North Carolina, have cooked up a devilish plot to change the music industry as we know it!

Well, actually, they've just come up with a digital angle on that old standby, the LP.  But it's a great angle.

Let's face it, vinyl is very cool, but it's hardly portable.  For those vinyl consumers who spend their days away from their turntables, tethered to computers and iPods, longing to listen to music then, too, Merge hears your pain...

Vinyl purists who pick up a copy of The Clientele's newest LP, Strange Geometry, will receive a CD insert inside the LP with a coupon entitling the bearer to a free one-time download of the full album, in digital mp3 format, from the cavernous electronic vaults of Merge Inc.

Spott, Merge General Manager, puts it this way:  "We want the tactile pleasure, the 12" album art, the physical satisfaction of vinyl AND the convenience of digital music.  Let there be a promotion."

We know there are those of you who are holding off buying vinyl, not sure how to get it onto your portable devices.  This is the promotion for you.

http://www.mergerecords.com