6. Releasing Music Via Sheet Music Beck
Beck Hansen has always an ambitious musician, if not an utterly eccentric one. From the lushly-textured Odelay, to the choose-your-own-artwork of The Information, right up to his fantastic re-imagining of David Bowie's Sound And Vision, complete with a 360-degree orchestra, he's always tried to push the barriers with his music, but 'Song Reader' was a step further than he'd ever been before. 'Song Reader' isn't really an album, but a book; it contains sheet music to twenty new songs, and was released with the idea of the audience in mind. They could interpret the record however they wished - literally - and then hopefully, cover versions would spawn from this project; Beck is actually hoping to release a compilation of fan versions, at some point, but is currently releasing another album, and working on the next one. The ingenuity of 'Song Reader' is that it's impossible to download it illegally, but the problem is that you can't enjoy it unless you play a musical instrument. The idea of getting your fans to learn how to play guitar is a fantastic one, but he'll no doubt get fans more exciting with new record 'Morning Phase', out February 24.