Hey all,

I have bought most of Dev's back catalogue over the years. CD is great, and I love booklets, but I'm starting to feel bugged down by getting more and more physical stuff in my house. The question: Is there a way to purchase DT albums - currently Epicloud - as download without using iTunes? I despise Apple and selling music through iTunes gives next to nothing to the artist. I want the bulk of my purchase money to go to the artist personally instead of a label or brand, so I want to avoid iTunes, Spotify, Rhapsody etc. A band like Voyager gave me that opportunity, as I purchased their albums directly through their personal PayPal account, but I understand that a major artist with a long term label relationship might not have this option.

/difquin

I think solves your problems: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Epicloud/dp/B00 ... 477&sr=8-3

If not, i think what you mean is you'd like Hevydevy records to offer a downloadable version of the album(?). Unfortunately (and to my understanding), Devin's label licenses the music to Century Media or whomever so it would be unreasonable to also issue their own download as competition. I'm sure the few hardcopy versions of older albums on his ebay account were part of the initial contract. Another option which I'm not endorsing is to illegally download it and make a donation to hevydevy records - I think I saw some donation link on their website recently.

Thank Meh. It somewhat gives me the functionality I need. I would however also like to get the Epiclouder bonus content, but this doesn't seem to be available for download?

The donation option sounds pretty rogue but also very intriguing. Devin himself has often encouraged people to download illegally - as long as they come to the shows and get a t-shirt. There is a paradox here though. It's well known, that labels only up their economic backing of an artist when sales are high. And touring options in certain regions is often based upon CD sales I gather? I don't know how downloads figure in the record company books, but illegal downloads certainly don't push any numbers for the labels, so even though I donate to HevyDevy - and they can make good use of my money - it probably won't expand Dev's possibilites to go all out (Retinal Circus etc.) when touring in my region (Scandinavia - Denmark).

Epiclouder isn't available for download. That exclusivity increases sells of physical product while keeping hardcore fans happy - in that most big fans will want a physical product.

I'm not sure Devin ever 'encourages' illegal downloading - I'm sure he's much prefer sales but between someone not hearing his work and hearing it illegally, he'd prefer the latter - probably knowing some would be converted. I think nowadays sales and touring certain regions go hand in hand. Sales encourage chances of gigs and gigs promote sales but labels usually only make money from album sales while artists only usually make money from paying live. I get the impression Devin hates touring but it's a necessary evil.