Jack White- the Willy Wonka of the music world. He is a genius in his own right, creating sounds we've never heard, doing it in a way that it has never been done. His factory is Third Man Records, the cornerstone of his underground empire. Nestled between train tracks and a homeless shelter in southeast Nashville, Third Man Records is a small warehouse filled with nooks and crannies with a surprise around every turn, or so the people who are actually allowed past the first room say. Third Man is of course home to the Third Man Record store where every thing Jack White has ever touched is sold. This is including, but not limited to, every album ever made by all of his bands- The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather, and all of the albums he has produced, such as Loretta Lynn, and even Conan O'Brien. But, beyond this eclectic record store lay a wonderland of music. Within Third Man there is a sound booth and recording studio, a rehearsal stage, a photo room and darkroom, and of course Jack White's office, which contains a vault of every first pressing of every record White has produced. All of that to say, Third Man is perhaps the most innovative and mysterious Record Label ever. Just When everyone thought they could not get any more innovative, they did.
Enter the flexi disc balloon launch. The event was first posted on Third Man's website with a video of the launch itself. However, the story spread like wildfire to a number of music news websites and blogs. The article on theaudioperv.com is the one referenced here. Jack White and Thirdman have been releasing singles off the upcoming album, "Blunderbuss" in the same old average way. There has been releases on itunes, and Third Man has put out 7" singles for the songs "Love Interruption" and "Sixteen Saltines." Third Man took releasing the next Jack White single to new heights (literally). Three weeks before the release of the album White and his Third Man crew attached 1,000 flexi discs to 1,000 helium filled balloons and launched them from the Third Man headquarters. Statistics show that only about ten percent of the discs will actually be found by a person. Despite this, the 100 flexi discs found will become valuable collector's items over the years.
Pictured left is a flexi disc, literally a 7" flexible vinyl disc, with a postcard attached asking people to return the card with where they found the disc and a picture of themselves with the disc
Jack White and Third Man Records are changing the way we spread media. This dispersing of flexi discs may not be the most practical way to get a new single out to the public, but it is innovative and ingenious. It instantly makes a cheap flexi disc a valuable collectors item, and it gained a lot of attention from media and fans. What this act shows us is that there is more to media promotion than just a facebook post, or a tweet, or a catchy youtube video. Jack White inspires musicians, and artists to return to the roots of media dispersion. It is like an email versus a message in a bottle. Yes, One is more practical, but the latter is more memorable, and that is the difference.
Watch The Balloon Launch
Read the post direct from Third Man here: http://www.thirdmanrecords.com/news/view/jack-white-flexi-discs-distributed-via-balloon-launch
Read the article from theaudiperv.com here: http://theaudioperv.com/2012/04/02/third-man-records-launch-new-jack-white-flexi-cds-via-1000-balloon-launch/
