Note the girl in the lower right in the USC sweatshirt. On her cell phone. Photo by David Greenwald
Hey pals.
As you probably know, the Shins' latest full-length bowed, as they say at Billboard, at the #2 spot on this week's Top 200 albums chart. The guys sold over 100,000 albums in a week, a staggering number for a group that 1) are on Sub Pop, 2) kinda cerebral lyrically and 3) saw their popularity peak three years ago already (Garden State. Had to say it. Apologies.).
Anyway, I think it's fantastic, Braff or no Braff. However, much was made over the album's inordinately early leak -- it hit the Internet back in October, and has since been downloaded over 19,000 times from one popular private bittorrent site alone. That's an easy 5 or 6k more than other popular albums on the site -- which range from indie stuff to Gnarls Barkley and Red Hot Chili Peppers -- which have been available, obviously, for months and months longer. This was an unbelievably popular record even by Internet downloading standards, and the album sales reflect this. Or do they? Is there a correlation between leak downloaders loving it and buying, or are the sales totally disconnected? Would it have sold more if it leaked later? Is this really all Braff's fault?
Considering that every torrenter probably sendspaced or YSI'd the thing to their favorite message board, I'd say it's a fair estimate that the album was downloaded at least as many times as it was purchased, if not far more.
My question for you, dear reader, is: Did you download the Shins album? If so, did you buy it? Or, did you buy it without downloading it?
For the record, I didn't buy it. My roommate did. Some great songs -- "Sleeping Lessons," "Australia" and "Spilt Needles" are my favorites -- but they're never going to be the band that I fell in love with when I bought Oh, Inverted World back in the pre-Braff era ever again.
Of Montreal sold 11k and cracked the charts too! Good for them.
Leave your answers in the comments, folks, or if you'd like to retain your anonymity, e-mail me: rawkblog AT gmail DOT com. I'll tally up the results over the next week and let you know how it works out. (P.S. Stereogum or Gorilla Vs. Bear or somebody with more readers than me -- you guys should do one of these, too.)
***
In the meantime, here are some Shins goodies for you:
The Shins - "New Slang" (live with Iron & Wine): mp3
The Shins - "When I Goose Step" (live on KXCI): mp3
James Mercer solo - "Harvest" (live Neil Young cover): mp3
posted by Dave Rawkblog @ 1:21 AM 
Comments (24)
I downloaded it, listend to it once, I liked it so I bought it. I download almost everything, and if if it's goog I buy it ( I pre-order a lot ). If I order it, then I don't listen to it until I get it.
I didn't download it or buy it. If you had suggested to me back in '02 that I would ever become bored by this band, I would have laughed in your face. The Shins remain the only band to produce music that has inspired me to write an Amazon review, and I wrote not one but two lengthy reviews for this, my one-time favorite band.
Then I saw them live in '04 and it ruined everything. I cannot describe how bad that show was, or why I still harbor a bit of resentment for having driven to Chicago to see their drunken, mean, unrehearsed asses.
I know this poll was about whether I bought the album, and I'm sorry for taking up so much space, but it's really been a long time since I have bought anything The Shins have put out -- the record, the buzz, or the hype.
Downloaded it a couple of weeks ago. And forgot it.
I actually listen to it at the end of december.
And bought it in vinyle this week.
I downloaded it but have hardly listened to it! Haven't bought it either. I have so much music on my computer that I may not get around to a particular album for a long time....
Download, then press copy. D'oh.
I downloaded, then bought it (and I also gave it to my friend, who bought it as well.)
Thanks for the Neil Young cover too - pretty cool.
I didn't download it, and I did buy it. I haven't listened to it yet, though; actually, I have almost 100 albums I haven't listened to yet. I really need to stop.
I don't have anything against "obtaining" albums instead of buying them. Sometimes I download them, sometimes I replace downloaded versions with purchased ones, and sometimes I buy them outright. There's really no rhyme or reason.
downloaded and purchased direct from subpop because i am a good person.
i suppose your next question is whether your respondents here are 35 year old housewives?
I streamed it on their myspace- haven't bought it yet don't know if I will.
I downloaded it...twice. Once in October then when a better bitrate hit the tracker I use. I'm not going to buy the album because it's not really that great. I buy albums that I love, listen to music that I like and delete stuff I don't. It certainly was nowhere near as good as "Chutes Too Narrow".
Neither. I heard their earlier album and was annoyed by the singing.
I downloaded it recently, and I have only listened to it in its entirety once. "Sleeping Lessons" is easily my favorite song, with Phantom Limb coming up behind. Besides those two, I find the album generally pretty boring. I'll give it a few more tries, hoping to find more songs that I like, but a lot of it is just a bit too formulaic and generic for me.
i downloaded it, i didn't buy it. i might buy it someday though.
i didn't download it, but did buy it. and i think it's very good. it will have been an unbelievable year if "sleeping lessons" is not one of my favorite songs at the end of the year
I can't believe what i'm reading here. It is mindboggling. These comments/poll responses seem completely inappropriate for readers of this blog. Downloaded but didn't listen to it? Bought it but didn't listen to it? It's the Shins!! Ahhhh
i didn't download or listen to any of it, except for the song Sub Pop made available a couple of months ago. i bought it when it came out though, and thought it was worth the wait (and the money).
I'm with Chad. I never download records. I just buy CD's of bands I like. Pretty old fashioned hey? Btw, I have given it a really good listen and I like it, not as good as their first 2, but still a fine album.
Neither. I do plan on picking it up soon, though. It's certainly cheap enough. Amazon had it for 9.99 a few days ago. Been listening to the new ones by The Broken West, The Earlies, and The Fags, all of which are pretty damn good, so the Shins kinda got put on the backburner.
Downloaded it, but I didn't buy it because it's just... really lame. C'mon people. This is not the old Shins. This is our generation's version of Journey.
I bought it without downloading it and loved it. It's my 2nd favorite Shins album right behind Chutes Too Narrow.
i waited to hear the album until i got a promo. glad i did. i like it.
didn't download it previous to release and bought it from iTunes. popped it in on Saturday and well worth the wait! good that have a new Shins record.
Downloaded it. Then bought it on vinyl to support them. I hope they're successful, but floating just under the radar! I love this album, along with the other two. And I saw them in concert last December. A GREAT performance! It is amazing the responses I'm reading. Do bother to listen to it if you're going to download it. Then if you can, do the right thing and buy it.
ezears
downloaded it. liked it. bought it. gave it to my girlfriend. please forward all statistics to Squashed for review.
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