FEATURE:
No Name, New Game
IN THIS PHOTO: Jack White/PHOTO CREDIT: David James Swanson
Could Jack White’s Oldskool and Low-Key Album Release Inspire Others?
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IN modern music…
IN THIS PHOTO: Jack White performing at Glastonbury 2022/PHOTO CREDIT: David Levene/The Guardian
there are so many stages to consider when it comes to album promotion. All social media channels need to be considered. There are weeks and sometimes months of teasers, videos, posts, photos and various other aspects. All very much timed and planned to create the biggest impact. Major artists are the ones where you get the most intense and widespread promotional blitz. It can be quite exhausting. I know that this is how things are done. To ensure the biggest sales and impressions, there needs to be this consideration about reach. Smaller artists still need to promote their albums as much as they can. They do not have the luxury of the massive fanbase and the same influence. One of the most interesting concepts in music is the surprise album drop. Various artists have done this. Beyoncé among them. Again, maybe less high-profile artists cannot afford to do this. It would be risky. This takes me to Jack White. A legendary artist who enjoyed years of success with The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather, he is also a prolific solo artist. In the past, he has had to do the same sort of promotional trail as artists of his calibre. Interviews galore and all the necessary social media posts and mandatories. With his surprise release, No Name, that has not happened. Here are more details:
“Jack White surprise-dropped a new album on Friday, but you can’t stream it on the usual services. ‘No Name’ was released as a vinyl LP, but the only way (so far) fans can get it is by visiting one of the record stores belonging to his Third Man Records business and buying something else. On Friday, staff were slipping the blank-cover LP into people’s bags alongside other purchases.
It appears to have been a one-day-only release, although Consequence reported that Third Man’s official Instagram profile published a story that night encouraging fans to ‘Rip It’. The Jack White subreddit has duly done so and made the album available as downloads from a Google Drive (see ‘rule 3’ on its frontpage) with a mod promising that “if anyone at Third Man Records hates rule 3, please let me know, I’ll delete it”.
Rather than it being released in all record stores and on streaming sites, it was a very low-key thing. More hype and interest around the album that a mere follow-up. No Name – or whatever he would have called it – would have just been subjected to this sense of predictability and expectations. The media and fan reaction would have been less intense than copies being handed out at Third Man stores. Variety go into more detail in their No Name review:
“No Name” the kind of album many fans hoped White would make after his electrifying appearance on “Saturday Night Live” in October of 2020 — as a last-minute for that covid-protocol-busting scamp Morgan Wallen — when he, Jones and Davis blasted the cobwebs out of our rock-starved psyches. The spontaneity of that performance suggested that, like Dave Grohl playing drums or Michael Jordan playing basketball, White could just pick up where he left off any time he wanted, even though he’d already been at the top of that game and moved on.
Nearly four years later, here it is, arriving in the most Jack White way possible: as an unmarked collectors’ item, given away for free with every purchase at White’s Third Man Record stores, without any notice or explanation; store employees apparently weren’t even allowed to talk about it. (Those with long memories may recall that White, possibly the world’s greatest vinyl proponent, sent out advance copies of the White Stripes’ epochal “Elephant” album to the media in 2003 only on vinyl, prompting predictable howls of outrage from critics who, in those pre-revival days, had long since ditched their turntables.)
The motivation, if it weren’t already obvious, was explained at the end of the day on Friday when Third Man posted a photo of the album on Instagram and wrote: “Today you have proven that the quiet rumblings of something mysterious can grow into the beautiful experience of a community sharing the excitement and energy of music & art.”
There have been a lot of surprise-drops since Beyonce set the standard in 2013, and White has served up plenty of innovative and challenging music over the past dozen years — including some smoking rock and roll, particularly on his “Blunderbuss” and “Fear of the Dawn” albums. But “No Name,” as an album and an event, actually lives up to those words”.
No Name has collected some huge reviews. Uncut awarded it four-and-a-half stars; The Guardian were impressed by Jack White’s most White Stripes-sounding solo release yet. This idea that fans and record buyers were handed out this almost anonymous and plain album that came out of nowhere. White keen for fans to bootleg and share the album free. Do what they want for it. At a time when physical music is very much rising and demanded, there is an interesting argument here. It encourages people to rip the album and share it, though there is also this questions as to whether White’s new album will lead more people to share it online and not share physical copies. I will come to that. I want to highlight this review of No Name from CLASH:
“The music business needs a superhero, and a vigilante label boss may just be the person for it.
The rapid devaluation of artistry prompted by the weightlessness of streaming over the past decade has been a threat to Jack White’s obsession with all things analogue. To combat the looming stagnation of the flat-surfaced digital era, he has cultivated an inimitable marque by playing with color codes, texture, arrangement and technology in a series of attempts at preserving traditions that bring people closer together.
Halfway through 2024, the Willy Wonka of music has resurfaced with what is arguably his most rousing solo effort to date. Always firm in his drive to keep audiences focused on creativity rather than celebrity, the 12-time Grammy winner has substituted (perhaps temporarily?) his blue aesthetic and the lithe tingle of static outlining it with a fresh bundle of faceless songs.
In late July, people shopping at his Third Man Records stores in Detroit, Nashville and London were unsuspectingly slid copies of what turned out to be White’s sixth solo album. The unannounced package has no name, track titles, credits or cover art, whereas its vinyl-exclusive rollout lasted all of one day. Soon after the news of the mystery disk began making the rounds, the imprint responsible for it began encouraging those in possession of the item to rip and distribute it. Furthermore, said company uploaded the components of the LP to Google Drive for a free download.
Backed by the infallible guitar–drum–bass framework now synonymous with his brand, the Motor City native has used his weapon of choice—distortion as calmingly shrill as his voice—to remind listeners that things needn’t be a certain way just because that’s how they already are.
By surrounding himself with artisans proficient in equipment rather than genre and masterfully presenting ostensibly passé products for modern audiences, he has made guitar music work during a time where the kids rarely ask for it. Not only that, but White’s untitled record also manages to satisfy every need he has positioned his day-one fans to rely on him for since he started out three decades ago.
With his trademark pliability anchored deep beneath the surface, he is able to swerve from garage blues (“A_01,” tentatively) to glimpses of the Raconteurs (“A_03”) to electric folk (“B_02”) with a coherence few can replicate. Adding to the execution of his abrasive and unambiguous punk joint “A_06,” the 49-year-old multidisciplinary keeps his middle finger raised up high as he raps about “tear[ing] down the institution” with the charisma of a street vendor on “A_05.”
The music did, does and always will come first.
Besides finding new ways to make shredding transcend its otherwise insufferable reputation, he has now joined the likes of Radiohead and Trent Reznor in demonstrating to the music circuit—especially those with the finances to set new standards and lead by example —that trade and commodification isn’t necessary for art to flourish.
A mad scientist who is incapable of being boring, Jack White has been rallying the troops and sticking it to the man for years. His latest album, it is safe to say, might just be his campaign’s biggest win thus far.
8/10”.
It is great that Jack White had the freedom to release an album this way and did not have to endure the same promotional rigours others face. If No Name was a planned and traditional release, it would have been put on vinyl and C.D. Maybe cassette too. White could have said to fans they can burn copies and share it around. It would have gone onto streaming and you feel most people would have listened to it that way. Fans listening to the album alone and not sharing it. There is something vintage and underground about this approach. The the value of an album is not determined by price or promotional expectations. Making a few copies of an album and then urging people to share in their own way. Burn copies or file-share online. There was a taboo aspect about that years ago. This idea of getting music for free. This real fear that fans were ripping off artists. I do wonder whether Jack White will return to the usual promotional and release method for future albums. Rather than this being a stunt, No Name was a reaction against the digitalisation of music and how albums are almost devalued. How there is this routine artists have to go through to get their album talked about. Over twenty-five years since he started performing with The White Stripes, Jack White is taking things back to that time. To basics. You could imagine White Stripes demos or records made on vinyl and handed to fans at gigs.
At a modern time, few artists take the same risk as White. I would like to think someone like Taylor Swift or Foo Fighters could release an album in the same way, yet you feel it would create too much backlash or commercial risk. There is always this need to hit sales targets and get social media impressions. Quite a capitalist approach, there is something socialist about giving albums out and then being known via word-of-mouth more than interviews, social media and sales. I would like to think No Name creates this momentum and wave. Other artists rebellion against modern expectations. There are artists right at the top of the industry and those coming through that might have different risks. The very biggest may feel there is too much to lose. Labels tying them into these promotional campaigns. Chart positions and sales very much at the forefront. Artists coming through or fairly new also have to think about traction and competition. Needing to make a name for themselves. People might say it is a stunt following Jack White’s lead. I think it is those in the middle that have less to risk and more likely to make the same move. I do hope that No Name is the start of change. Rather than the album being this digital commodity or mass produced, limiting copies but then encouraging fans to rip/copy the album and share it. Finding it online in an older format and not on big streaming platforms. Creating this build-up and buzz from this somewhat underground and unexpected surprise release. I do love that thought that more and more artists will do this. Very few ever have. Let’s hope that No Name compels artists right through the industry to…
MAKE a name for themselves.