i (slice two - don’t think i’m speaking for both of us) have a bit of a rant on this whole app thing (and it’s a bit all over the place):

i think the app is a waste of time for the most part. i’d rather the time spent making more music, managing the artist and labels better, and touring much much more. i was super excited to see that shpongle was coming to philly until i found it that it’s only a DJ set. things like that, and album delays, are frustrating, and an app for my smart phone isn’t going to make that any better. i agree that there needs to be more fan interaction, but that’s what forums and things like twitter and facebook are for.

im of the “old school” camp that still buys physical music product. i don’t stream music except the occasional pandora station when i’m bored. i have spotify on my computer and have used it a total of 3 times for 3 songs. i miss the days of amazing album packaging and physical media. the twisted artists lend themselves to amazing packaging (think some of Tool’s artwork and packaging styles on twisted releases). the app will be neat, but i feel like it will lose it’s appeal for many people, especially those that are getting tired of managing so many different subscription services, not to mention having their cell services data usage being hit by streaming.

and on the tune of streaming, if an app is going to stream music that is of any good quality (which is especially needed for tunes like twisted’s) it’s going to take up so much data service that people will start going over their limits.

one thing the app would be cool for is if it gives you the stems of twisted tracks so you can remix them… of course, then i’d just be pissed that i couldn’t get those stems on my computer to remix properly

as for the exclusive tracks, if i can’t own the track on my computer and burn it to my own cds or ipods, then i won’t check it out. as i said before, i want to own my music. i want to put it on my old school ipod and play it in my car on my road trips. if i have to stream everytime i want to hear some super special exclusive track, i’ll just get bitter and cranky

of course, we haven’t even seen the app yet, so this is all the speculation of someone getting tired of the music business trying to do things that aren’t really about the music, but instead about everything else (not twisted specifically, just music in general).

however, to answer the question, i honestly wouldn’t pay more than $10/US a year for a subscription service to one particular label, especially if i won’t be able to download anything to my own computers/ipods/etc.

Yetti- I would much rather get the app than pay a 3rd party for something, especially if twisted gets next to nothing for it.  Plus it sounds like there will be tons of extras, honestly i would probably buy the app even if it didnt come with music just to stay in the loop.  I think this idea is very innovative, and could possibly change the way that we buy and listen to music forever, I wonder how long it will take larger record companys to catch on?

Sandwich- some good points i havnt considered yet especially with the data usage and going over the limit.  I really dont use facebook or anything like that though, so like i said before, even if im not streaming music all the time i still think it could be a usefull app.

Hello - really pleased to see most of the feedback on the app idea is positive .... First to Spacescape - I think the price for the app will be free ...this will give you all the touring info , gig footage , social stuff but if you want all the music it’ll be a 2.50 euro subscription/month
As for quality of the stream - we are expecting tp provide a streaming service whereby if you are on a fast broadband connection you’ll recieve a HD stream - this is roughly equivalent to a flac file ... if you are streaming on a bad quality mobile service then the quality will keep falling until a stream is successfully made.
As the app caches all stream the trick for the canny user will be to stream the full catalogue at home on your broadband connection and then you can roam with your mobile anywhere you like and hear the full catalogue with or without a mobile connection in HD Quality…... and you won’t stress your mobile data limit
Mr Radioactive sandwhich - this app is not going to stop us making CD’s and vinyl but it WILL provide a far more immersive and deep experience that simply going to a download store and paying $9.99 for an album which is actually just a bunch of files ....with the app you’ll get immersive HD multipage artwork with each release and have an interactive experience with the artists, music and label . I love buying CD’S but normally have a pretty hollow feeling when i spend money on itunes as it’s too bland.
If we do the app I imagine we will pull all of Twisted stuff from spotify, pandora etc ?( we’ll keep stuff on youtube) . Services like spotify are legalised piracy.. we as a label recieve about $0.30 for every 10,000 plays on spotify - personally I’d prefer fans to steal from torrents rather than stream from a legal service that just generates profits for its self . Artists make nothing from spotify yet the company is worth around $1 billion dollars , so I can’t see why we should tolerate this.
With the app Twisted makes good revenue if we get a few thousand subscribers - Revenue that will make it far easier to make more music and sign more music - the app itself is’ a commitment by the label to produce a LOT more albums. We dont give away 30% like we do to itunes and we dont get exploited as we do by spotify…This service will always be for our hardcore fanbase but i got a feeling there’s quite a few of you out there .........
Most of all I think this app idea will create a new, exciting way for labels to reach their fans in a way that finally exceeds the days of vinyl and CD’s in terms of depth .... and exceeds the convenience of the bland but convenient world of itunes

We have designed the interface of the app ....now we need to get the coding done ... stay tuned and keep giving us your thoughts and questions on this topic - we want the Twisted app to open up the world of twisted to the people who support us

x Benji

Hi Benji

Thanks for the reply regarding Spotify. I knew that the revenue from Spotify was not great, but I had no idea it was that bad.

I don’t know if it’s a business secret, but what are you numbers from these services? is it only around 10.000 plays a month, or is it higher/lower?

Regarding pulling all Twisted stuff from these services, what are your thoughts of Twisted Records might loose potential future fans/customers? I Personally love browsing all the artists on these services and find new music which I then will buy on CD (love my CDs!). 

Have you thought of integrating the streaming subscription on to your website, so I’m able to listen to your music while being at work?

PS. Glad to hear that the app is free and some of the services can be used without a subscription.

Prometheus - 05 March 2012 12:59 PM

Mr Radioactive sandwhich - this app is not going to stop us making CD’s and vinyl but it WILL provide a far more immersive and deep experience that simply going to a download store and paying $9.99 for an album which is actually just a bunch of files ....with the app you’ll get immersive HD multipage artwork with each release and have an interactive experience with the artists, music and label . I love buying CD’S but normally have a pretty hollow feeling when i spend money on itunes as it’s too bland.
If we do the app I imagine we will pull all of Twisted stuff from spotify, pandora etc ?( we’ll keep stuff on youtube) . Services like spotify are legalised piracy.. we as a label recieve about $0.30 for every 10,000 plays on spotify - personally I’d prefer fans to steal from torrents rather than stream from a legal service that just generates profits for its self . Artists make nothing from spotify yet the company is worth around $1 billion dollars , so I can’t see why we should tolerate this.
With the app Twisted makes good revenue if we get a few thousand subscribers - Revenue that will make it far easier to make more music and sign more music - the app itself is’ a commitment by the label to produce a LOT more albums. We dont give away 30% like we do to itunes and we dont get exploited as we do by spotify…This service will always be for our hardcore fanbase but i got a feeling there’s quite a few of you out there .........
Most of all I think this app idea will create a new, exciting way for labels to reach their fans in a way that finally exceeds the days of vinyl and CD’s in terms of depth .... and exceeds the convenience of the bland but convenient world of itunes

We have designed the interface of the app ....now we need to get the coding done ... stay tuned and keep giving us your thoughts and questions on this topic - we want the Twisted app to open up the world of twisted to the people who support us

x Benji

I can see your argument about Spotify and such, but to be fair, you have to accept those as promotional tools. If you pull your tunes off of those services, then you miss out on an audience that will be introduced to Twisted via the recommendation services. A casual listener will not buy the Twisted app just to check out the Twisted music. They’d rather just skip it then take a dive into yet another app they need to manage in order to hear a small slice of music. We have all our stuff on Spotify, Pandora, etc. simply because it gets us a couple new fans a month, which is more than we’d get if we were not on there. If you can accept that they are simply promotional tools, then it doesn’t seem that bad.

As for the song releases, as long as there is physical product for me to buy, I will continue to give you my money. The minute that I can only stream it or buy it digitally, I stop purchasing. I can appreciate the idea of immersive experiences for album artwork digitally, I still would rather have a CD booklet then having to start at something on my little iPhone screen. However, remember that you can create pretty badass digital booklets for release with albums, especially through iTunes (can’t remember for the other stores, but I know our digibook for our latest album is on iTunes).

I think the app can be a good supplement to the CD business, but if it begins to take over, there will be some of us that may just give up on buying the music because it isn’t delivered in the format we prefer. I don’t like buying stuff from digital stores either. I usually reserve that for singles or remixes that I don’t care for the rest of the songs collected with them. If I like an artist or an album, I want to own the physical product with the art and such. Yeah, it will def. get ripped to mp3 for my various PMPs, but I will always have the option to pop a CD into my computer, home stereo, or car.

So to sum it up, as long as your tunes are still physically available on a nice little plastic disc, you’ll get my money I do look forward to seeing how the app pans out. I could be totally wrong and it could be one of the dopest things ever. I’m just a young, yet bitter old music man who likes my fingerprint collecting CD collection

- Slice Two

PS - I have to make something clear here, though. All but our first album is only available digitally. That is simply due to the fact that we are a 2 man crew who pay for everything out of pocket and can’t afford to constantly press physical product. If we had a bigger fan base and the backing of any sort of label that did physical, you can be sure we’d be releasing our albums on CD every chance we got. Sometimes it bugs me that we can not do so, which is what causes us to sell our albums for less then $4 a pop digitally when we can name the price (or give them away for free like we did with our last album).

ok, so let’s say i’m gonna pay 2.50 euros a month for this service. when the new prometheus album comes out, i will be able to stream and cache it onto my phone. so, in effect, i have already paid for this album.

would you expect me to then buy the album on top of that, so that i can also have it on my computer or on a disc?

have you considered the option of providing new releases for free through something like bandcamp for people who have already subscribed? (or, say, if you’ve been a subscriber for 6 or 12 months, it triggers your ability to get the new releases for free)

also, you haven’t answered about whether there will be a minimum subscription period. if i were you guys i would be pretty worried about the possibility of people exploiting the service by only signing up for a month and downloading all of the work that’s ever been done by your label…

ps. really excited to hear that plans are well advanced!

flavius - 06 March 2012 04:59 AM

also, you haven’t answered about whether there will be a minimum subscription period. if i were you guys i would be pretty worried about the possibility of people exploiting the service by only signing up for a month and downloading all of the work that’s ever been done by your label…

ps. really excited to hear that plans are well advanced!

I thought you had read the thesis. I am guessing the author got this information before publishing. Or is this just theoretical?

“Besides that, unsubscribing means waiving your access to all of the content, so that creates a kind of lock-in effect, similar to a lot of digital subscriptions. It’s a little like canceling your subscription to a print magazine and losing access to all previously received magazine editions immediately”.

Was skeptical at first…but now I’m convinced. This app sounds fantastic.
Will there be an iPad version available? or is this simply for iphone/android size devices?
Really like the idea of hd streaming and caching. You guys are doing it right.

Honestly, CDs are dying. I’d rather just own (lossless) digital files at this point. It saves space, shipping, and resources.
The only physical music products worth buying anymore are collectable vinyls (for the hardcore enthusiast), which I gladly shell out the $ for.

side question for Benji:
You guys ever plan on releasing a vinyl of Vaccine??  Maybe along with the electronic album?

dimutech - 06 March 2012 07:41 AM

flavius - 06 March 2012 04:59 AM

also, you haven’t answered about whether there will be a minimum subscription period. if i were you guys i would be pretty worried about the possibility of people exploiting the service by only signing up for a month and downloading all of the work that’s ever been done by your label…

ps. really excited to hear that plans are well advanced!

I thought you had read the thesis. I am guessing the author got this information before publishing. Or is this just theoretical?

“Besides that, unsubscribing means waiving your access to all of the content, so that creates a kind of lock-in effect, similar to a lot of digital subscriptions. It’s a little like canceling your subscription to a print magazine and losing access to all previously received magazine editions immediately”.

fair enough.

any updates?

i really hope this gets released before the glade festival release.