In an interesting first for Groupon, the company is not only offering a discount on British musical artist David Gray’s newest album “Lost and Found—Live in Dublin”—it’s actually debuting the album. Yes, Gray is releasing his album exclusively on Groupon, beginning Monday, June 27, for only $6, more than half off the $13 retail price.
The album features 12 songs that Gray recorded live in Dublin, and Groupon is offering subscribers a free track to download as a sample. The album is available only as a digital download, and Gray’s U.S. record label, Downtown Records, which worked with Groupon to offer the deal, will be releasing a CD version of the album later this year.
In a somewhat blowhardy musician-like statement, David Gray notes:
“These shows have been so precious to me, it only seemed like a shame that more people wouldn't get to see them. But now, thanks to the magic of technology, exactly that is possible, and at just the click of a digital switch.”
In conjunction with the deal, Gray will be performing on Live! With Regis and Kelly on June 27, as well as The Early Show on CBS on June 30.
This marks a unique first for Groupon as the exclusive online retailer debuting an artist’s album. During the last holiday season, Groupon made headlines when it offered Rihanna’s fifth studio album “LOUD” as a $5 digital download. Groupon played a pivotal role in the digital launch campaign for “LOUD,” which included comprehensive social media outreach, but never before has Groupon been the sole purveyor of an artist’s newly released digital album.
The campaign follows similar efforts by recording labels, artists, and retailers to advance their digital launch campaigns through special deals and online offers. Last month, Amazon offered Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated album “Born This Way” as a digital download for only 99 cents in an effort to spread awareness of its cloud music player. In this case, it was most certainly Amazon who took the loss in a campaign that was so successful (at first) that it overloaded Amazon’s servers, which resulted in some nasty backlash from customers.
David Gray’s live album is available via Groupon on June 27 only, and the deal ends at midnight local time.
