NPR Snags Free Bob Dylan Exclusive

Starting Tuesday, National Public Radio's website will be the first place fans can hear the next Bob Dylan album, the eighth installment of his "bootleg series" of rare or previously unreleased recordings from the past two decades, marking the first time NPR will have leaked an album (albeit with permission).

The entire double-CD Tell Tale Signs (Columbia Records) will be available to listeners on NPR's website as a stream starting just after midnight on Monday night. You can hear it there any time from September 30 to at least October 7 when the album officially goes on sale.

This seems to be part of the new way of doing things: Rather than waiting for an album to leak, bands and labels are controlling leaks, in a sense. Streaming an album for free on NPR the way Dylan plans to surely beats forcing fans to buy it from a specific physical store (see The Eagles and possible Guns 'N Roses), but the strategies are related. When copies are infinitely replicable, the first place they are available to fans assumes new importance.

More:

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/npr-snags-free.html

on NPR website in the last month, sorry no idea of a link.

but a question, can it be captured and burned on CD? Is that what this is promoting?

i don't mind buying at some point, but wouldn't mind a bootleg of the bootleg.
dp

songs that will be released on this album. The 'Time Out Of Mind' and 'Love and Theft' songs are the ones that have been tightly held onto by the record company. So I am looking for the release just b/c of those gems. The 'Oh Mercy' tunes can be found on a lot of bootleg websites.

you will not be able to capture or burn it onto cd, unless you have recording software that can snatch audio from sites. lol

Good stuff! Thanks again.