Here’s the latest news from Chris about his SMMC. Why not subscribe to the site launch here: http://www.smmcmedia.com/ ?

First release announced
The innovative new digital distribution service SMMC Media is set to launch its first venture, the Saturday Morning Music Club later this month. Set to enhance the way we buy and listen to music online, Saturday Morning Music Club is a big step forward in how an artist can connect with and reward their fans.

The first release will be Squeeze man Chris Difford’s new solo album Cashmere If You Can, although other artists and releases will be announced through the year.
With Difford’s Saturday Morning Music Club, the premise is simple: once you sign up for it, you receive one chapter a week every Saturday morning for the duration. As well as the week’s lead track from the album, each chapter comes complete with a “cluster” of media: 2 b-sides, a video, photos, lyrics and song notes, gradually building up a whole library of music and content. This all comes for only one price. All the content is delivered straight to a single desktop application, which will allow users instant access to the music and other media, in an engaging and interactive way – and unlike other desktop services such as Spotify, this can then be saved to the computer or transferred to portable devices. Media content will not be DRM-protected. Latecomers to the Saturday Morning Music Club need not worry about missing out on previous weeks’ releases as once material is made available it stays that way.

For ‘Cashmere If You Can’, pre-orders for the set will begin on Saturday 15th May. The pre-order will come with an immediate download of the app, and include the ‘Introduction’ – which is the first cluster of content, and includes the album’s lead single ‘1975’.

Chapter One will include ‘Like I Did’.

Chapter Two – ‘The Still And The Sparkling’ on June 5th.

Chapter Three – ‘Back In The Day’ on June 12th.

Chris Difford is thrilled to be launching the new service: “Its not an album, it’s an experience … Like in my childhood, the excitement of rushing to the record shop every Saturday … I’d love to bring that feeling back to buying music.”
The idea came about after collaboration between Difford’s manager Matt Thomas – a former Universal and Warner Bros marketing executive, and boutique application design agency G-Raff. For Thomas, “this started out as a fun idea to get around the lack of physical distribution outlets, and to take the artist/fan relationship to the next level in a creative and more intimate way. It turns out that quite a lot of people are interested in using it. For the unsigned artist with a good fanbase, or small label, it’s a pretty cool addition to the mix. We’re not trying to replace existing distribution outlets, just add to them. Incremental sales are good sales. Direct to fan is even better”.

The engine and software behind SMMC Media are incredibly versatile; the app is customisable and can be changed and skinned to suit individual artists branding and artwork requirement. Delivery can be timed content or one time only – for singles or EP’s. Deployment is simple, straightforward and quick.

www.smmcmedia.com