The Los Angeles Times reports that the band is directly challenging the policies of its record company Sony. The Times said Sony told the group to cancel the giveaway, saying the band's online plans were a contractual violation. Even so, the group will go ahead with their controversial strategy.
The Offspring's action, which comes just four days before the music industry faces off against popular file-swapper Napster in court, could have ramifications on the legal battle against online piracy, the Times said.
The paper says analysts now wonder how Sony can argue that Napster is killing profits when one of its top-selling acts is using the techco's technology to promote its next release.
"The reality is that this album is going to end up on the Internet whether we want it to or not," said Offspring singer Dexter Holland. "So we thought, 'Why don't we just do it ourselves?' We're not afraid of the Internet. We think it's a very cool way to reach our fans."
Holland's take on how to use the Internet, and more specifically Napster, to market and promote a release has been voiced by many in the industry but not implemented before—especially on this level.
The Times said the move is only the first step in a larger marketing plan conceived by the band. The Offspring, unlike Metallica and other musicians suing Napster, says it views unauthorized Internet file swapping as a useful promotion tool that can help boost CD sales.
The band's previous album, "Americana," has sold nearly 12 million copies since 1998, even though the album's hit, "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)," was downloaded without authorization more than 22 million times on Napster and other sites.
"Original Prankster," the new album's first single, will be available for downloading September 29 at www.offspring.com and other sites including Napster. The Orange County superstars intend to post the entire album by late October—nearly a month before the CD goes on sale in stores, the Times reports.
Offspring's plan is built around a contest that will offer fans a chance to win $1 million by downloading the first single and registering their e-mail address with the band. The contest winner will be announced live on MTV on Nov. 14—the same day the album goes on sale in stores around the world. If fans respond to the contest, the band believes it has a shot at creating the largest e-mail database in the music business.
The band intends to use that database to entice fans to buy its new CD. To reward those who go out and purchase the disc, the band plans to e-mail an additional unreleased track once a month through spring 2001 and give away a series of original online animation.
Executives at Sony Music declined to speak to the Times although a Sony spokesman released a statement saying, "While the band has come up with a million-dollar idea for their fans and we're excited about the contest, we have very real concerns when it comes to unsecured downloading of music and piracy on the Internet. We're hopeful that we can arrive at a method that will protect everyone's rights and still maintain the integrity of the band's idea."
When the band's manager Jim Guerinot informed the label in March that the Offspring planned to put up its next album on the Internet, Sony officials adamantly opposed the idea. Attorneys told the band that they were afraid that the download promotion could jeopardize the industry's legal case against Napster.
"What these industry attorneys fail to realize is that 'MP3' has replaced 'sex' as the most sought-after thing on the Internet," Guerinot said. "It's our job to figure out how to market, promote and sell music in cyberspace—not just unplug 25 million potential customers."
The Times reports that The Offspring is maintaining that Sony and other conglomerates have been violating artist contracts because they have failed in their fiduciary duty to stop piracy and protect copyrights in the digital world. The Offspring contends the CD itself is an unsecured format and as soon as Sony releases the album, fans will be able to copy and post millions of MP3 versions of it on the Internet anyway.
"How can record labels stop bands from doing what they are already allowing the rest of the world to do? That's just too weird for me," said Holland. "In the end, if a band sells 12 million albums, what are we supposed to say? Oh, maybe we could have sold 13 million if we had just been Internet Nazis. Frankly, at a certain point, you have to say, hey, let the people have the music."
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