Foster The People Releases BitTorrent Bundle of New Songs

Trust Foster the People to do things no one else is thinking of. Thoughtful music, glorious Instagrams and random treats – this band just knows how to keep their fans happy! You see, there is good marketing and then there is FTP level good marketing – a different league altogether!

I have been a marketing major myself – and music marketing is one of the trickiest things on earth – fans have an unwavering eye on you waiting to catch any staged attempts and all they expect is your sincerity which is a hard call to maintain after you have been swayed by the all success and the riches and you hardly have time now to work on your music in between those back to back stage appearance. Tough. But as Foster The People is proving – not impossible!

So the band has been relatively quiet on the new music and updates front for some time now after the release of their 2014 album Supermodel. Not a long time, I’d say. Bands should take he called for breaks and brush up their creative brain cells, and don’t we all agree by now that songwriter Mark Foster has plenty of them at work. The band has been keeping fans engaged with (almost) regular social media updates, and fun and intimate ones which are both, borderline hipster and in between mainstream. But, here’s the deal – right when you have been least expecting – they suddenly drop some free singles- that too as a BitTorrent bundle full of treats. I mean, wut!! Who does something generous as a BitTorrent bundle these days? Even I was so excited it felt like Halloween Trick or Treating all over again!

So my first reaction after I downloaded my bundle at lightning speed and opened my box of goodies – Sweet! There’s one new song and a version of one of my favorite hidden gems from them “Ruby”. And it’s full of neat artwork.

But, the clear highlight is the new tune “The Unforeseeable Fate of Mr. Jones”. Here’s the deal – if you remember listening to the 35 second track “The Angelic Welcome Of Mr. Jones" off their last album Supermodel  and scratched your head thinking what it could have meant- well, we might have some answers now. It’s almost like with this new track is the extended story of what seemed like unfinished business in that track. Because that track is nestled in between this new track making it a whole complete coherent story. Mr.Jones’ story isn’t exactly a happy one – Mark narrates his story in first person and as an onlooker talking about his personal battles and eventual death- and that’s when “the Angelic Welcome of Mr. Jones” plays right before he’s freed from his worldly troubles! Ah, so that’s what it meant.

Mark’s  prowess and ways of dealing with these intense themes stump me yet again! And I’m glad he isn’t one who’s losing his touch to the stardom (yet). I see a great songwriter in the making in him – someone who leaves behind a legacy. As for Mr.Jones – I’m glad he came into our lives – and I’ll just take the liberty to donne the fortuneteller’s hat and try to look into my crystal ball of reviews into his unforeseeable fate, and what I see is … yes, a bright future for music J

And who knows maybe someday great marketers would case study Forster the People in their classes. Because, I’d say, if Adele is a marketing genius – Foster The People are just flawless by not trying too hard!

Download the bundle here.