Introducing...The Unsung Record Club

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Hello, Unsungers! We hope you had an excellent festive season. We’ve been hyping some changes to the subscription levels for a few months. So here goes.

We feel that via our extended musical family (that’s you), Unsung has the potential to materially help under-recognised artists whilst also becoming a more interactive experience for yourselves.

First and foremost, all of our main shows will remain free. Unsung is available to anybody that wants and can access it. You are under no obligation to pay and, as we have said many times, if you can’t afford the commitment but want to show your appreciation, reposts, shares and simple word of mouth go a long long way.

Anyway… first off, we’re simplifying our Patreon tiers and reducing the number of options to three from Feb 1st 2022.  (please note, prices do not include VAT)

In Tier 1, you can pay £4 a month and get the same bonus episodes and early access you’ve become accustomed to. We know a lot of people subscribe around this level, and our recent survey of listeners has shown that most people are happy to pay a minimum of £4 a month (less than £1 per episode). So, this is the new minimum tier.

Next : introducing The Unsung Record Club.

This is the new bit. We talk about a lot of great records on the show, many of which are damn near impossible to find, or which you might otherwise never encounter. Both of the options here mean that, for your subscription, in addition to all the features of Tier 1, you also get to look forward to specially selected albums, EPs and singles (some very limited edition) dropping into your inbox or - in the case of the ballers in Tier 3 - even your real life mailbox!

Exciting eh? A little present to yourself once a month and a way to show support for the podcast, the underground music scene and also discover new mind-blowing art.

So, in Tier 2 - The Digital Club, for £15 a month (all territories), you get all the features of Tier 1, plus we will send you at least one digital album by a specially chosen unsung artist/label. Those albums will be purchased directly from artists/labels and will all be releases that we consider unsung, thus benefiting their creators and (hopefully), the audience. We will also throw in the occasional freebie that we think you might like.

In Tier 3 - The Analogue Club, for £34 a month (UK), £42 (Europe) or £50 (rest of world), we will send you one vinyl unsung album* from an unsung artist/label AND one digital release**. This price includes all postage and packaging via Royal Mail.

*see DETAIL #9 below     **see DETAIL #10 below

Next, since not everyone has the same taste…

Each month you can either put your fate in our hands and take pot-luck, or choose a specific flavour curated by the show-hosts. This means reaching into the…

Bucket o’ Chris: If you know the show you know the script. A release from a band in the alt rock, noise rock, electro, post punk and post rock genres (and all sub genres therein). 

Bucket o’ Mark: A release tending to be from a band in the punk, hardcore, hip hop, folk, acoustic, country and perhaps even some crusty/metal genres (and all sub genres therein). There will be no Prince and very little pop punk. There may be some funk though.

Bucket o’ Dave: A release from the pop, dance, metal, doom, experimental and electronic genres (and all sub genres therein).

Bucket o’ Pals: Selections curated by our regular guest hosts.

So those are the basics.  If you want a little more detail including an explanation of the thinking behind the new record club …read on.

DETAILS

1: There are so many terrific artists and imprints putting out amazing material without worldwide distro, making it likely you will never encounter them. Our ability to buy in bulk for this Record Club means we can actually put some cash in their pockets.

2. There are many terrific artists that aren’t playing or even together any more and their work sits in their attic when it should be spinning on a turntable. Again, our ability to purchase will help these folks out, as well as rekindling a bit of interest in some amazing underground albums that might otherwise be forgotten.

3. Subscribers will get to hear a little quarterly bonus podcast where we look at a handful of the records that are part of the record club and give them the Unsung treatment. Who knows. Some of these acts could even end up putting out some lost rarities or - heaven forbid - doing some shows.

4: The digital tier is useful as there are many similarly gifted artists we Unsunger love that have simply never released a physical or vinyl copy of their music. We still want to highlight those and this may make it more affordable for many of you. 

5. Whenever possible, we will augment your quota of subscription releases with extras that are, for example, available for free via places like Bandcamp but that you might not otherwise hear of.

6. Releases will be shipped on the 1st of the month (or as close to as post office hours allow). Delivery times will obviously differ based on distance. 

7. If you subscribe, your first release will be shipped the following 1st of the month. If you cancel the subscription or drop down a tier, your previous payment will be honoured the following month as usual before the change takes effect.

8. If you don’t specify your album category at least 72 hours before shipping, we will default to your choice from the previous month (i.e. Bucket O’ Mark etc) or, where no specific category has been chosen, we will default to pot-luck (we choose at random).

9. Vinyl shipments will generally be single/double disc LP albums but, should we come across something special, we may sometimes swap that for at least 2x EPs, including colour and picture-disc releases.

10. The digital and vinyl releases sent to you will not be of the same album. You will get two distinct releases.

So, there you have it. We are trying to troubleshoot in advance and there is every chance we may need to make tweaks as we go, but this is the plan.

You help us, you support underground artists AND you benefit from us curating a monthly goodie bag for you. Besides, who doesn’t enjoy the anticipation of something dropping through the door!?