Handwritten Previews & StumbleUpon

Well here's the details for the StumbleUpon thingy.

prizes too!

http://www.thegaslightanthem.com/2012/07/09/handwritten-album-preview/

We’ve partnered with StumbleUpon to give you an Album Preview of Handwritten – Head over to our StumbleUpon profile and click “Stumble My Likes” and see if you can Stumble Upon the album previews of each song from Handwritten. Don’t worry if you don’t see one right away – just keep hitting “Stumble” in the top left until you do. You should be looking for a youtube link like this. After you find it make sure to Like it (thumb it up) on StumbleUpon, then Tweet out (just change the name and link of each song once you find it):

I just discovered 45 by the @GaslightAnthem https://youtu.be/PNU5WbJ0z2o #Handwritten #AlbumPreview on @StumbleUpon!

When you Like the Album Previews and Tweet to your friends you will automatically be entered to win some cool prizes!

Prizing:
- Grand prize: $250 iTunes Gift Card (1 Winner)
- Second Prize: Jensen Turntable with autographed 7″ Vinyl of 45 (1 Winner)
- Third prize: Super Deluxe Limited Edition Autographed Package (1 Winner) as seen here.
- Fourth prize: Autographed Handwritten Album (10 Winners)

You need to be a StumbleUpon user to participate, so sign up for free if you aren’t. Get started by clicking “Stumble My Likes” on our StumbleUpon profile.

The Contest will run from July 9 to July 16, 2012

ok I'm gonna do this until I get ONE preview. That's it. And I'm not gonna listen to the whole thing, Yeah. whew. Now I'm nervous.

I've gone through them all and only StumbledUpon 45 and Mulholland Drive. It doesn't look like anything else from Handwritten is posted, unless I'm doing something wrong.

so the previews aren't full songs? pass.

Labhras wrote:

so the previews aren't full songs? pass.

Yes, by definition a "preview" is not "full".

I'm just getting 45 and Mulholland Drive previews... any others for anyone?

Maybe that's all that's up now. But I listened to like 12 seconds of M. Drive. Sounded amazing!

i didn't want to sign up, so i gave up. lol.

Yep - that's all that's up there for now. I'm guessing they're going to post 2 a day until the 16th. I wonder how they choose a winner? Whoever "likes" all of the previews and tweets about them gets their name thrown in a hat?

Too much work for me, thank you very much...

mrklenrd wrote:

I'm just getting 45 and Mulholland Drive previews... any others for anyone?

Same here. Gave up too...I already listened to the Amazon previews, I think that's enough..will have more fun when I listen to the whole album at once than waiting for another 30 seconds every day ...

Seriously, how much did Stumbleupon pay them for this crappy gimmick??? This is the sort of thing I'll call any band out for in terms of "selling out"... selling your fans out by forcing them to sign up to a website in order to preview your samples is ridiculous. Also it's not just making them sign up if they want to listen but not even providing a direct link to the music so you have to waste time on their website. I understand you can just wait until others post the link, but it's the principle of how Gaslight is using their fans. I don't care what a band does with their music, if Gaslight wants to let Twilight producers use their music for a soundtrack so they can pocket a million dollars, by all means go ahead and do it. However when you're using your fans to make money then it comes off as something completely different.

I know Brian will put on the act that they're doing everything they can to stay true to their fans, but reading Alex's comments this morning that playing smaller clubs was simply a business decision is infuriating. The cynic in me says of course they knew 500 person clubs would be nowhere near enough for the demand, but the hype created from scalpers and selling out the tour is worth it for the public perception towards their popularity despite it screwing over their fan base. It's like when Jon Landau vows every E Street tour to fight scalpers, reality is Bruce benefits from the perception of it being a hard ticket to obtain so business wise nothing really changes in the end.


Just my 2 cents, not the end of the world but just interesting to see how things are slowly changing and it's not the rosey picture Brian try's to paint after switching to a major label.

chanter wrote:

Seriously, how much did Stumbleupon pay them for this crappy gimmick??? This is the sort of thing I'll call any band out for in terms of "selling out"... selling your fans out by forcing them to sign up to a website in order to preview your samples is ridiculous. Also it's not just making them sign up if they want to listen but not even providing a direct link to the music so you have to waste time on their website. I understand you can just wait until others post the link, but it's the principle of how Gaslight is using their fans. I don't care what a band does with their music, if Gaslight wants to let Twilight producers use their music for a soundtrack so they can pocket a million dollars, by all means go ahead and do it. However when you're using your fans to make money then it comes off as something completely different.

I know Brian will put on the act that they're doing everything they can to stay true to their fans, but reading Alex's comments this morning that playing smaller clubs was simply a business decision is infuriating. The cynic in me says of course they knew 500 person clubs would be nowhere near enough for the demand, but the hype created from scalpers and selling out the tour is worth it for the public perception towards their popularity despite it screwing over their fan base. It's like when Jon Landau vows every E Street tour to fight scalpers, reality is Bruce benefits from the perception of it being a hard ticket to obtain so business wise nothing really changes in the end.


Just my 2 cents, not the end of the world but just interesting to see how things are slowly changing and it's not the rosey picture Brian try's to paint after switching to a major label.

I'm sorry but if you're not already on StumbleUpon then this "gimmick" did you a favor. Hands down on of the tops sites. Really great to use and get exposed to alot of great things that you already show interest in. Also, I have a friend from cherry hill!!

JJW319 wrote:

chanter wrote:

Seriously, how much did Stumbleupon pay them for this crappy gimmick??? This is the sort of thing I'll call any band out for in terms of "selling out"... selling your fans out by forcing them to sign up to a website in order to preview your samples is ridiculous. Also it's not just making them sign up if they want to listen but not even providing a direct link to the music so you have to waste time on their website. I understand you can just wait until others post the link, but it's the principle of how Gaslight is using their fans. I don't care what a band does with their music, if Gaslight wants to let Twilight producers use their music for a soundtrack so they can pocket a million dollars, by all means go ahead and do it. However when you're using your fans to make money then it comes off as something completely different.

I know Brian will put on the act that they're doing everything they can to stay true to their fans, but reading Alex's comments this morning that playing smaller clubs was simply a business decision is infuriating. The cynic in me says of course they knew 500 person clubs would be nowhere near enough for the demand, but the hype created from scalpers and selling out the tour is worth it for the public perception towards their popularity despite it screwing over their fan base. It's like when Jon Landau vows every E Street tour to fight scalpers, reality is Bruce benefits from the perception of it being a hard ticket to obtain so business wise nothing really changes in the end.


Just my 2 cents, not the end of the world but just interesting to see how things are slowly changing and it's not the rosey picture Brian try's to paint after switching to a major label.

I'm sorry but if you're not already on StumbleUpon then this "gimmick" did you a favor. Hands down on of the tops sites. Really great to use and get exposed to alot of great things that you already show interest in. Also, I have a friend from cherry hill!!

I messed around on StumbleUpon and got bored pretty quick. I think Reddit has killed any chance of finding originality on the internet.

chanter wrote:

Seriously, how much did Stumbleupon pay them for this crappy gimmick??? This is the sort of thing I'll call any band out for in terms of "selling out"... selling your fans out by forcing them to sign up to a website in order to preview your samples is ridiculous. Also it's not just making them sign up if they want to listen but not even providing a direct link to the music so you have to waste time on their website. I understand you can just wait until others post the link, but it's the principle of how Gaslight is using their fans. I don't care what a band does with their music, if Gaslight wants to let Twilight producers use their music for a soundtrack so they can pocket a million dollars, by all means go ahead and do it. However when you're using your fans to make money then it comes off as something completely different.

I know Brian will put on the act that they're doing everything they can to stay true to their fans, but reading Alex's comments this morning that playing smaller clubs was simply a business decision is infuriating. The cynic in me says of course they knew 500 person clubs would be nowhere near enough for the demand, but the hype created from scalpers and selling out the tour is worth it for the public perception towards their popularity despite it screwing over their fan base. It's like when Jon Landau vows every E Street tour to fight scalpers, reality is Bruce benefits from the perception of it being a hard ticket to obtain so business wise nothing really changes in the end.


Just my 2 cents, not the end of the world but just interesting to see how things are slowly changing and it's not the rosey picture Brian try's to paint after switching to a major label.

You have to sign up which takes around 30 seconds (You don't even have to verify an e-mail) This isn't selling out. This is a fucking promotion. If they chose to randomly hide links around DSS and it was a scavenger hunt, you would have no problem with this.

AmSlang59 wrote:

chanter wrote:

Seriously, how much did Stumbleupon pay them for this crappy gimmick??? This is the sort of thing I'll call any band out for in terms of "selling out"... selling your fans out by forcing them to sign up to a website in order to preview your samples is ridiculous. Also it's not just making them sign up if they want to listen but not even providing a direct link to the music so you have to waste time on their website. I understand you can just wait until others post the link, but it's the principle of how Gaslight is using their fans. I don't care what a band does with their music, if Gaslight wants to let Twilight producers use their music for a soundtrack so they can pocket a million dollars, by all means go ahead and do it. However when you're using your fans to make money then it comes off as something completely different.

I know Brian will put on the act that they're doing everything they can to stay true to their fans, but reading Alex's comments this morning that playing smaller clubs was simply a business decision is infuriating. The cynic in me says of course they knew 500 person clubs would be nowhere near enough for the demand, but the hype created from scalpers and selling out the tour is worth it for the public perception towards their popularity despite it screwing over their fan base. It's like when Jon Landau vows every E Street tour to fight scalpers, reality is Bruce benefits from the perception of it being a hard ticket to obtain so business wise nothing really changes in the end.


Just my 2 cents, not the end of the world but just interesting to see how things are slowly changing and it's not the rosey picture Brian try's to paint after switching to a major label.

You have to sign up which takes around 30 seconds (You don't even have to verify an e-mail) This isn't selling out. This is a fucking promotion. If they chose to randomly hide links around DSS and it was a scavenger hunt, you would have no problem with this.

This is precisely selling out, they used their fan base as a product. Stumble upon isn't paying Gaslight for Handwritten samples they're paying them for increased web traffic and possibly long term users. Promoting an album doesn't involve making money off your fans.

chanter wrote:

Seriously, how much did Stumbleupon pay them for this crappy gimmick??? This is the sort of thing I'll call any band out for in terms of "selling out"... selling your fans out by forcing them to sign up to a website in order to preview your samples is ridiculous. Also it's not just making them sign up if they want to listen but not even providing a direct link to the music so you have to waste time on their website. I understand you can just wait until others post the link, but it's the principle of how Gaslight is using their fans. I don't care what a band does with their music, if Gaslight wants to let Twilight producers use their music for a soundtrack so they can pocket a million dollars, by all means go ahead and do it. However when you're using your fans to make money then it comes off as something completely different.

I know Brian will put on the act that they're doing everything they can to stay true to their fans, but reading Alex's comments this morning that playing smaller clubs was simply a business decision is infuriating. The cynic in me says of course they knew 500 person clubs would be nowhere near enough for the demand, but the hype created from scalpers and selling out the tour is worth it for the public perception towards their popularity despite it screwing over their fan base. It's like when Jon Landau vows every E Street tour to fight scalpers, reality is Bruce benefits from the perception of it being a hard ticket to obtain so business wise nothing really changes in the end.


Just my 2 cents, not the end of the world but just interesting to see how things are slowly changing and it's not the rosey picture Brian try's to paint after switching to a major label.

I wouldn't really consider it selling out. I think one of the things a band has to deal with when signing to a major label is picking their battles. Sure, the band could throw a shit fit when Mercury comes to them asking to run a promotion through StumbleUpon, but they gotta save energy so they can say no when Mercury goes to those Twilight producers.

smetz224 wrote:

I wouldn't really consider it selling out. I think one of the things a band has to deal with when signing to a major label is picking their battles. Sure, the band could throw a shit fit when Mercury comes to them asking to run a promotion through StumbleUpon, but they gotta save energy so they can say no when Mercury goes to those Twilight producers.

It all comes at a cost when you sign onto these major labels though, there are obviously opportunities through these labels but it usually comes at a huge cost for most bands. Without actually knowing any details of their contract, i'll guess TGA borrowed hundreds of thousands to make Handwritten which they need to pay back. Are they going to make that kind of money through record sales and touring??? I guess it's possible, but if they don't then suddenly when Twilight wants to use their music they aren't exactly in a position to say no if they still have to pay off Mercury. I want to reiterate it's not the worst thing a band has done, but i do think it's more "despicable" that they're whoring out their fans as opposed to their music. I know this sounds way more dramatic than it actually is but i'm just making a point. They have a great relationship with their fans and I'd hate to see them continue this pattern where fans end up getting the short end of the stick.

chanter wrote:

This is the sort of thing I'll call any band out for in terms of "selling out"...

Well I guess that's really horrible. If you care about that sort of thing.

chanter wrote:

smetz224 wrote:

I wouldn't really consider it selling out. I think one of the things a band has to deal with when signing to a major label is picking their battles. Sure, the band could throw a shit fit when Mercury comes to them asking to run a promotion through StumbleUpon, but they gotta save energy so they can say no when Mercury goes to those Twilight producers.

It all comes at a cost when you sign onto these major labels though, there are obviously opportunities through these labels but it usually comes at a huge cost for most bands. Without actually knowing any details of their contract, i'll guess TGA borrowed hundreds of thousands to make Handwritten which they need to pay back. Are they going to make that kind of money through record sales and touring??? I guess it's possible, but if they don't then suddenly when Twilight wants to use their music they aren't exactly in a position to say no if they still have to pay off Mercury. I want to reiterate it's not the worst thing a band has done, but i do think it's more "despicable" that they're whoring out their fans as opposed to their music. I know this sounds way more dramatic than it actually is but i'm just making a point. They have a great relationship with their fans and I'd hate to see them continue this pattern where fans end up getting the short end of the stick.

I have no recording experience or industry knowledge, but hundreds of thousands? I mean, if a punk band like TBR can record an album at a recording studio like the blasting room on a punk label, then I seriously doubt it cost hundreds of thousands to record at Martina McBride's studio in Nashville (The Features recorded there, don't get me wrong, I love Kevin Devine, but he's hardly setting the charts ablaze in terms of popularity), regardless of whether a big shot like O'Brien produced the album.

The bottom line (figuratively and literally) is that the band is a business. If they do not make money, they do not pay their rent, pay their bills, etc.

I don't care if they dress up in clown outfits and play a kid's birthday party so long as their music is not affected by it.

I'm happy to see there is finally some serious $$$$ behind this band so they can start to achieve levels of popularity that could hopefully allow them to live comfortably for years and years to come.

THey have busted their asses touring for YEARS, playing THOUSANDS of shows.

They have earned every single thing that's come their way, and they certainly have not done it the easy way, they've done it the right way through all their hard work.

If you want to call them sellouts, say they changed their sound or music to try to become famous and gave up their roots... Don't be upset because they're treating their band like the business that it is.

Also who's to say that Gaslight Anthem isn't paying stumble upon for the exposure? Oooooo just turned the tables...

It's not like there are so many of us and they just gained 100,000 users....

They want their shot, let them take it. They're still great guys and they still work hard to stay true to themselves. It's not like they're coming up with these things themselves (I doubt it at least), they've got management and label people making these decisions. Sure it's not like it's kept a secret from the boys (obviously if they tweet about it) but they're being told "hey this is a great way to promote you guys and we'll get a lot of money for it" and I doubt they're analyzing all possible ways people might get upset before they say "okay cool". Brian doesn't even analyze his own thoughts long enough before he speaks them, let alone something like this. Even if they did, it's still a smart tactic.

Personally, I don't think this is at all screwing the fans, it's just annoying to have to go through stumbleupon but why would the site give them any money if people didn't have to stumble and therefore learn about the site? I mean really. What do you expect. It's like saying a TV show is selling out because it has commercials.

As for the concert thing in limited venues, yes of course it's a promotional thing. We've all said that from day one. I think it shows their integrity that they openly admit it. Again, it's a business.

You have a choice not to participate in the contest. That's all it is. A contest. Not a sign their moral compass has shattered.

To me, a sellout is someone who changes who they are in an effort to leech onto whatever's popular so they can make money. If Brian starts wearing a giant mouse head yelling about MDMA or brings out hip-hop dancers during the show, then I'd start worrying about where their moral values are headed.

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

As for the concert thing in limited venues, yes of course it's a promotional thing. We've all said that from day one. I think it shows their integrity that they openly admit it. Again, it's a business.

Exactly. It's a business. The whole concept of a tour is to promote a band to begin with!

smetz224 wrote:

I wouldn't really consider it selling out. I think one of the things a band has to deal with when signing to a major label is picking their battles. Sure, the band could throw a shit fit when Mercury comes to them asking to run a promotion through StumbleUpon, but they gotta save energy so they can say no when Mercury goes to those Twilight producers.

I think that's exactly what it is. Picking their battles. One thing they have to do as much as anyone else in business or private. You can't fight every war.

And I guess for people who want to participate in the price draw it's a nice opportunity.