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Mike Doughty of Soul Coughing Will Sell You a Digital Recorder with a Copy of His New Song for $543.09

Mike Doughty messes with the art of selling music.

Today, free glorious mp3s rain down upon upon us, and we are forgetting what it was once like to pay for music. Some may never know. Thanks to Pandora and YouTube and Spotify and the bit torrents and whatever else, we now expect artists to compose, perform, and record their music for free. And then to make it available on as many easily accessible networks as possible. If they are good enough, we will tolerate them posting a 10-second Google ad on their YouTube videos, and we will begrudgingly shell out cash for actual concerts. As long as it is less than $20.

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Perhaps Mike Doughty, of Soul Coughing fame, wishes to remind us that music is still a thing that people should pay for. Today, he announced via Twitter that he would be distributing his new song in an "unusual" format.

Got a new song called "Dogs/Demons", available in unusual form--individual recorded performances. Go to doughtybespoke.com to see/hear.

— Mike Doughty (@Mike_Doughty_) December 6, 2012

Doughty explains what that unusual format entails on his blog:

I’ve got a song called “Dogs/Demons”. It’s not on an album; it’s not available on the internet, or anywhere else. It’s available only on a digital voice recorder–the very one that the song was played into.

I’m releasing the song in individual versions: if you order a copy of “Dogs/Demons,” I will record a version for you on the same recorder I recorded it on. You’ll be able to plug it into a computer (cable is included), and copy it to your hard drive. It will be an entirely individual performance–you will have the only, repeat ONLY, copy of that performance.

You can order “Dogs/Demons” by clicking here. The price is $543.09.

There's more:

It’s available in a choice of three keys: C, D, or D-sharp.

There’s an optional bridge (at additional cost) for $267.18. At the beginning of the recording of “Dogs/Demons,” I’ll say the date, time, location, the series number (like, “this is recording number 444″), and the full first, middle, and last name of the person who orders it. The recorder will be signed, and numbered, by me.

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And here are a few samples of what your $543.09 song will sound like:

Some of this has to be a bit of a joke; especially this:

Q: Can I request a personalized message to be said at the beginning of the recording?

A: Yes. There is an optional personalized message, but it will be subject to approval, in accordance with the integrity of the piece–for instance, “my rap name is Old Goofy Shithead” might be declined. Personalized messages, if approved, are available for $35,335.53 (not a typo).

So maybe the point is to skewer musicians who ironically hock their tunes on cassette tapes and other outmoded mediums. Doughty did recently pen a blog post, cited in [Forbes](http://Q: Can I request a personalized message to be said at the beginning of the recording? A: Yes. There is an optional personalized message, but it will be subject to approval, in accordance with the integrity of the piece–for instance, ), that claimed that piracy wasn't sinking the music industry; that blame fell instead to an inability to engage older fans. Or maybe this is a genuine offering to his die-hard fanbase with half a grand of idle cash lying around. The thing is, the model itself actually is an interesting experiment in selling music–let's see how it plays out.

An email to Doughty has thus far gone unanswered—I'll update if I hear back.