TJ has just added a huge blog post to the site, setting the agenda for Carbon/Silicon's future plans. If you haven't read it yet, I urge you to do so at once - it's important stuff!… then head straight back here to find out how YOU can help to make this all happen.

(seriously, just go and read it. I'll hang around here and twiddle my thumbs while I wait for you to finish.)

Done that? Back with me? Great.

So here's the plan...

From this point forward, Carbon/Silicon intend to operate on a resolutely independent basis… making the music they love, the way they want to make it, and putting it out on their own terms.  No more industry interference. No more pandering to market expectations. Grass-roots DIY punk ethics for the digital age … and - just in case you couldn't infer as much from the tone of the blog - everybody around the band is getting *seriously* excited about the possibilities this kind of freedom can bring.

In the wake of TJ's blog I thought it would be useful to post a quick round-up of the current work-in-progress here at Carbon/Silicon HQ, and take this opportunity to answer some of the questions and suggestions that are now popping up on various forums around the web.

Short-term Priorities:

First (and most importantly): Mick and Tony are determined to return to the core idea of creating and putting out free music on their web site. Carbon/Silicon was *always* about the music, and about exploring the way that bands - or, for that matter, artists of any kind - can connect with their audiences in the 21st century. You've already got your hands on the first fruits of that decision … Carbon/Silicon's latest album - The Carbon Bubble - is now available as a free download from this very site. Expect more to follow soon - "recorded in the moment, as it happens".

Secondly: CD production. The band have been watching the internet response to The Carbon Bubble with a great deal of interest, and have seen lots of people asking for a "physical" release - a high quality, factory-pressed version up for sale. So… we're going to make it happen. The band has been looking into the "fan-funded" recording + merchandising approach that's become popular amongst a number of "true" indie bands recently - even going out for face-to-face discussions and meetings with the people who have already gone down that path - and are confident that the same approach can work for Carbon/Silicon. The business, legal and fulfilment infrastructure required to make this all function properly is already in the process of being set up - no big industry involvement, everything being run by the band itself and the people around them. It's going to take a little while to get all of our ducks in a row and be in a position where we're ready to take orders here on the site…. but bear with us while we sort things out - it's all coming!

Third: Gigs. Again, the forum consensus seems to be that some kind of UK tour is long, long overdue. We hear you, we agree, and we're doing something about it - nothing too lengthy at first (read the blog for the reasons why), but there are some tentative bookings in the frame for the first quarter of 2010 which should firm up over the next few weeks, so watch out for announcements. Also - this was mentioned in TJ's web chat a couple of weeks ago, but probably bears repeating - any offers for shows should be sent to Daisy, whose details are over on the contacts page. (Serious business enquiries only please! We don't want an avalanche of random e-mails from people saying "hey, you should play such-and-such a town"… we appreciate the enthusiasm, but e-mails like that tend to cause hold-ups and take attention away from sorting out the real deals).

Beyond those priorities - expect a lot more interaction here at carbonsiliconinc.com. A couple of weeks ago we streamed out the new album in its entirety a couple of hours before it was officially released. While the music played, TJ joined us in a chatroom session to talk about the making of the album, and to take immediate,  un-moderated first-impression feedback from listeners. Was that a world first? Has any other "established" artist ever had the balls to stand up and do that in a public forum? We've got no idea … but what we do know is: it worked, we loved doing it, and mad schemes like that scare the crap out of the traditional music industry. In other words: expect more of that kind of thing very soon :)

OK, enough of what's happening here. The flip-side of all this is…. how do YOU get involved?



(yeah, I admit it… I've been waiting years for another good chance to use those promo pics!)

Right now - and more than ever before - Carbon/Silicon needs to build their listener base. Every day, we get e-mails, instant messages, web site comments etc from people who are basically saying "wow, I love you guys - this stuff is great - but I had no idea you were still making music!". We know for a fact that there's a vast amount of people out there who followed the band members in their earlier careers, who - basically - have no idea that all this is all going on. We really need to reach out and find all those fans (and new ones too!) to make this next phase of the Carbon/Silicon story work.

The practicalities behind this are pretty straightforward… Like Tony says in the blog: to take the show on the road, vans need to be hired, and people need to be paid. If we know there's an audience out there, who will buy the CDs direct from the web site, or who will buy tickets for a show in a particular part of the world, then we CAN make it all happen - but everything starts with the audience.

So this is what we need people to do now: get the word out. Nothing is more important than this. Talk about Carbon/Silicon in places where people still talk about good music. Don't go around spamming on our behalf; we believe the music sells itself - just make people aware that the band exists… that the site is here, this is what we stand for, and this is what we're doing. There's a whole album here ready for people to listen to - no strings attached, no industry BS - they don't even need to hand over an e-mail address to get a copy of the record!

If you use social media - facebook, twitter, myspace … all that kind of stuff… or if you're a blogger - please talk about us there. We're upping our game on all of these platforms; you'll find fully-playable copies of the album on both myspace and facebook (or, as much of the album as they'd let us upload in the case of myspace), and we're pushing out copies of all our main news items and blog entries to those sites. Additionally, we're now "officially" present on social listening sites like last.fm and thesixtyone.com … if you use these sites, please "heart" our tracks and boost their rotation - every little bit of exposure helps us out in the long run!

Most importantly of all … just play the music and share it wherever you can. The Carbon Bubble was deliberately released under a special "creative commons" license which allows you - the listener - to pass on the music to others. As long as you're not using the music for commercial purposes, you're free to incorporate it in things like youtube videos, podcasts, non-profit radio, anything you want (the band *loves* to see their material used to kick-start other artistic work) - no need to get special permission; all we ask for is a credit whenever a track is used.

If you can direct people back to our site, all the better… when people download tracks direct from carbonsiliconinc.com, we get a better feel for the kind of listener figures we have (and even what part of the world those listeners come from!), which is great for our strategic planning… but, really, if you get the music out there for us, it's all good.

Way back up the top of this article, I mentioned the DIY punk ethos. Truth is, we're not really "doing it ourselves". We need - and want - everybody to be a part of this.

Just like the blog says… "There's a lot of work to do. And a lot of FUN to have. That's what it's all about isn't it?"

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