One of the main reasons we set up Society of Sound Music was that we wanted to provide an antidote to the all-you-can eat music servers that abound. Quality was the key rather than quantity and underpinning that was the desire to promote new and exciting music.
On top of the exclusive albums we provide monthly, we’ve started an occasional series of label samplers to give music fans the chance to discover rostas of artists on labels we feel are genuinely passionate about what they do and only put out what they care about.
The first label in this series is one of the most talked about labels of the moment, Full Time Hobby. The Independent’s Andy Gill describes them perfectly:
“By developing a label profile based on taste and quality, a company can acquire a devoted fanbase that values its product as physical artefacts, rather than virtual soundfiles.
It’s all about signing distinctive acts and packaging them attractively – areas in which UK indie Full Time Hobby currently leads the pack.
How on earth, one wonders, did this tiny operation manage to sign not just the two hottest American indie bands of the moment (The Hold Steady and White Denim), but also respected neo-psychedelic Krautrockers Viva Voce and Fujiya & Miyagi and quirky folktronicists Tunng?…by being into music rather than money, as the title confirms. ”
Full Society of Sound members will receive the entire 8 track CD, trial members will be able to download a track from the supremely excellent The Hold Steady plus they’ll receive a six track sampler from us with highlights of previous Society of Sound music. See here for joining details.
As I mentioned at the start, a huge part of this Society is about discovery. We want to know what you thought of this sampler. Are there any labels you think we’d like and that you’d like to see represented here? Let us know what you think.
After downloading the trails like Tom Kerstens en Grindhouse I finally took a subscribtion about half a year ago I was not very thrilled about the choice of album I could download for the last couple of months. This album makes most of that up, some very nice and interesting performances. Thanks
Posted: Friday, 22 May 2009The sampler was great. Lots of good music, and I was really taken with School of the Seven Bells. It’s a shame the digital downloads they offer for sale are mp3 only.
Posted: Friday, 22 May 2009I thoroughly enjoyed the sampler! I had some problems importing it into my itunes as several of the fields seemed o be missing.
Posted: Friday, 22 May 2009Technology aside, I found the music interesting and the variety was appreciated. as usual the quality of the download was great.
Thanks!
Jo
The sampler (“Full Time Hobby”) is just great. An excellent selection of songs!
Posted: Friday, 22 May 2009Thanks so much!
I’ve only had chance to skip through the sampler tracks so far, but it sounds great. The Society of Sound has brought to me music that I would never have bought or even looked at for myself!
Posted: Friday, 22 May 2009One thing I love about the whole Society of Sound ethic is sound quality. It’s what I’ve been striving for for a long time. To see a label such as Full Time Hobby described (as above) as caring about taste and quality is absolutely marvelous.
Lets hope that more labels follow suit.
One final thing is to say thank you to the Society of Sound, for opening my ears to such a diverse range of music and styles and for bringing such passionate musicians into easy reach for people like me.
Wonderful.
Another great piece of work. Furthermore, proposing music in such a download format and quality is just amazing !
Posted: Saturday, 23 May 2009Thank you and keep going that way.
I’m on the last of my trial subscription and may go on to a paid one from here. Either way, I appreciate the program.
However, I cannot find the free “The Hold Steady” track to download as mentioned in the e-mail.
Posted: Saturday, 23 May 2009The “Full time hobby” sampler is a great eye (ear?) opener for music that one might not have discovered otherwise.
Posted: Saturday, 23 May 2009If (in collaboration with SoS maybe) it was possible to buy their music online in 24-48 FLAC it would be even greater.
I should never have found this myself, without the “help” from Society of Sound. There have been some “up-and-downs” the last months in Society of Sound but I realy likes this album. This is great stuff, thanx.
Posted: Sunday, 24 May 2009Tout pareil, resté un peu sur ma faim juste au moment ou j’ai pris un abonnement payant, cet album est une bonne surprise.
Bon point aussi pour les ‘anciens’ albums a nouveau téléchargeables.
Posted: Monday, 25 May 2009Good stuff here. Thanks.
Posted: Tuesday, 26 May 2009Hi,
Susanna from B&W here. We’re really pleased you enjoyed this sampler and we’re planning on bringing you more in the near future so let us know about any labels you think we may be interested in.
Regarding the free The Hold Steady track, it’s ‘Citris’ and when you log-in, you should see two links in yellow: ALAC and FLAC. Simply click the format you prefer (ALAC for iTunes and FLAC if not) to start downloading.
Posted: Wednesday, 27 May 2009Once again, thks for discovering some really interesting material
Posted: Wednesday, 27 May 2009“Regarding the free The Hold Steady track, it’s ‘Citris’ and when you log-in, you should see two links in yellow: ALAC and FLAC. Simply click the format you prefer (ALAC for iTunes and FLAC if not) to start downloading.”
Of course I tried all of that, but it was not actually available (no links) until some days later, even though the e-mail message said it should be. Though I imagine you know that… or should anyway. There’s no need to apologize for the erroneous message.
I do appreciate the music, but probably not enough to go on to a paid subscription. When I started there were four songs per title available under the trial subscription, but now only one. The sampler was interesting, too.
I not so much into the rock band and singer/songwriter territory as I prefer jazz and world music. Please bring more of the latter and I’ll probably try the paid subscription. Thanks for the free music, though.
Posted: Saturday, 30 May 2009It’s just great!
Posted: Tuesday, 2 June 2009The two artists I appreciated most were:
Posted: Wednesday, 3 June 2009School of Seven Bells
Tunng
Would be great to have them in the club.
I really enjoyed the FullTimeHobby stuff. Also, Dub Colossus. It is interesting being exposed to new, classy music. Thank you.
Posted: Wednesday, 3 June 2009Hi there,
where can I download them again? I can’t find them again.
Thanks.
Posted: Friday, 4 March 2011