Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly is one of the many monikers of musician and producer, Sam Duckworth. I’ve been a fan since his breakthrough GCWCF album, 2006’s Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager. His latest release, the Monopolies EP is available now in an unusual physical format; oversized monopoly pieces with NFC technology baked in.
Two years ago this month I wrote about the arduous process of obtaining my first NFT. I didn’t expect, 24 months later, to be writing about my first NFC based collectable as being an innovative concept, particularly since primitive versions of ‘near field communication’ functionality date back to the 1980s.
One of the earliest, widely accessible examples of this technology in the marketplace were the ‘CommTech’ chips bundled with Star Wars figures around the release of The Phantom Menace in 1999. These were chunky rectangular pieces of plastic with a character image matching the figure it accompanied. When you held them against the CommTech reader (sold separately) it would play soundbites from the film.
It may not surprise you to learn I have a fair collection of these.
For this release, GCWCF has utilised the platform, Serenade, where you can find ‘Digital Pressings’ from artists such as Liam Gallagher, Jungle and Ella Henderson. Digital Pressings are described by Serenade as premium editions of albums, EPs and singles that provide fans with high resolution audio and art files, plus exclusive multimedia content not available on run-of-the-mill streaming platforms.
I purchased the piece, which resembles the classic green Monopoly house from the GCWCF MusicGlue based store. Also available was a red hotel edition. The order placed unlocked an immediate download of the 4 main tracks featured on the EP to listen to in advance of receiving the physical format.
Once I had the hotel in hand, a quick sign up on Serenade’s website allowed me to transform my iPhone into the 2024 equivalent of Hasbro’s Star Wars CommTech reader. Holding the house against my phone instantly presented the option to ‘unlock’ the Digital Pressing. Doing so provided me with an additional ‘b-side’, two acoustic versions and the EP itself all in WAV format, plus the artwork (a 6250 x 6250 PNG file) and the promise of more exclusive content to follow.
This felt a lot like the exclusivity of the NFT experience, without the total faff. Maybe it’s my millennial upbringing, but waiting to receive the physical item in the post was hardly any hardship and didn’t detract from the instancy of getting what I’d paid for. The standard release was there upon purchase and a week later I still haven’t got around to downloading the additional tracks anyway.
Therein lies the slight limitation of this alternative approach to releasing music. I’ll confess, Spotify is my sole platform of choice when it comes to playing digital music. If the tracks don’t enter that environment (I appreciate there is a slightly convoluted way to import ‘local files’) they don’t enter my listening rotation currently.
I think this as a format and release strategy does fall mostly into the ‘novelty’ category, although both Sam’s creativity and Serenade’s business model do acknowledge the need, or perhaps just longstanding opportunity to give fans something more, in lieu of a CD or vinyl. The latter, despite their resurgence in the 2010s, are becoming increasingly expensive and pricing many out of an ability, or want to collect. Weezer just cancelled their ambitious ‘SZNZ’ project vinyl boxset due to low pre-order sales.
Since I called time on CD collection (documented here) I’ve been purchasing vinyl editions, often long after an initial release, once I’ve had chance to connect with the music and developed a longing to have a physical representation of my fandom, strong enough to overlook the cost. I’ve actually found myself buying more band t-shirts again (in part because of an uptick in my number of shows attended post pandemic) as an alternative way of supporting artists, despite the notable price increases on merchandise also.
I only need so many t-shirts though, and the cupboard is fast running out of space. Small mementos like this 5cm high, resin Monopoly piece are great, even if I’m unsure as of yet which display cabinet it’ll be where this house finds a home.
At £20 the package is a reasonable price. You might expect to pay around a fiver for a digital EP and similar 3D printed collectables that I’ve bought would start at around a tenner. Once you factor in the fan club-lite membership this purchase enters you into, this might actually be a bargain by a pre-digital world’s standards.
Sam is no stranger to a unique format. Ten years ago, his 2014 Starrcade EP collaboration with Alcopop Records for Record Store Day, bucked the vinyl trend and presented as an authentic Lucha Libre wrestling mask, plus download code. I was lucky enough to bag one from my regular Record Store Day visit, Square Records of Wimborne.
Liam Toms 