So I was listening to 96x today and during commercials, there was an advertisement for the band Mae and their upcoming album release.
Mae is a Norfolk, VA based indie-rock band that was formed in 2001. They released their first album, Destination, Beautiful in 2003 with Tooth and Nail Records. The album’s first single “Embers and Envelopes” reached an audience of a relatively small area. People outside the Tidewater area weren’t familiar with Mae’s style of music, but all that would change by the time their second album, The Everglow, was released in 2005.
The Everglow.
Mae toured heavily to promote their second album and also to spread the word about themselves.
The band signed with Capitol Records in 2006 for the recording of their third studio album, Singularity, which was released in August of 2007.
This brings me to the main point of this post. After the better part of a decade full of success, Mae has decided to break away from Capitol Records for the release of their fourth album. Now, this sounds like a bad idea only because now they have less potential to make massive amounts of cash [theoretically].
Their fourth studio album is being relased one song at a time on their website whatismae.com. Each month, they will release one new track [12 months = 12 songs] for a minimum donation of $1 a piece. These donations will go towards various humanitarian aid groups and charity organizations of Mae’s chosing. As of today [02.07.09], Mae has released one track and raised close to $9,000 for the Habitat for Humanity Foundation.
The song, “The House That Fire Built”, is pretty good, and it’s well worth a minimum of $1 especially if it’s going to aid a charity. I bought the song, and it’s been a great addition to my iTunes collection.
According to Mae’s website, three EPs will be released [M]orning, [A]fternoon, and [E]vening once more tracks are released.
I think more bands should take a note from Mae and do things like this. Bono and U2 obviously do this, but it’s nice to see someone local doing something like this.
Go to whatismae.com to donate and download.
Cody.
Earlier this week, it was the “New Slang” by the Shins. Excellent. The song was so excellent that I went right on to iTunes[which is now the bane of my existence] and I bought the song. 
