Kaiser Chiefs ask fans to create and promote album

Kaiser Chiefs are the first band to launch an album via a digital platform that lets music fans create a bespoke tracklisting and cover art.

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The online platform is the latest attempt by the music industry to adapt its model and discourage illegal downloading of albums and tracks before their official release.

The band has put 20 new tracks online, and fans can chose their favourite 10 in any order to create their own version of the Kaiser Chief’s “The Future is Medieval” album. They can then download it for £7.50.

The platform also encourages fans to promote their own version of the album to other fans via social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. Fans receive £1 for every version of the album they sell through a personalised transactional website.

Music publication DrownedinSound and Guardian Music have already created versions of the Kaiser Chiefs album which have since been bought by consumers.

The platform is a joint venture between record label B-Unique, Fiction Records, which is part of Universal Music Group, and Wieden and Kennedy.

Celebrities will also be creating their own albums in the coming weeks in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society. All profits made from sales of celebrity versions of the album will go to the charity.

On its website the band says: “We wanted to do something different. Something that made everything exciting and new again. We wanted to do something that involved our fans. It seemed strange that nobody had ever done a bespoke album properly and then one thing sort of led to another. We kept thinking somebody would tell us it was a bad idea but everybody just kept saying yes.”

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