Okay, we mentioned that we will be launching a FREE CD campaign this week.

Let us explain what this is all about – especially to those who have already purchased an album at full price.

Sometimes, we get the question (a ligitimate one): “Why did I have to pay full price for an album of yours only to see you give it away for free later on?”

Fair question.

Many of you who paid full price for THE VOICE OF TREASON did so in the early going when we were first promoting it (and we are grateful to you). 

A large number of you went through what we called “The Voice of Treason Journey,” which was a ten day behind-the-scenes DEEP DIVE into the record. There were lots of interviews, exclusive videos and demos that were not available to the general public. (They still aren’t).

We also included lots of bonus goodies like stickers and a post card.

We hand-numbered and autographed copies of the CD.

We made the original release a fun and unique experience.

Of course, there were others who bought the album AFTER the initial access to “The Journey” was terminated.

Those CDs, too, were collector’s discs – each one with a unique printed panel for anyone who bought one of the first 400 copies printed.

We hate to think that any of you would feel you were cheated in any way… or that you could have just waited things out to eventually get a free record.

The truth is, when trying to gain new fans – which is one of our goals for 2022 – the most effective way to do so is to offer a free physical item like a CD.

 Digital downloads are okay, but they don’t have the impact, nor do they hold as much value, as something physical. 

By offering something like a CD to new fans that are not familiar with what we do, we are showing them a level of trust and good will that is not easy to come by. 

Obviously, we don’t make money on such a venture. We actually lose some. But the goal is to use our best “weapons” to  brings new fans into the Elm Treason fold… and we have seen that it is incredibly effective.

A HUGE majority of fans in the Elm Treason family came in this way – by signing up for a free CD and then eventually purchasing other materials from us later on.

We did this with all three of the albums prior to THE VOICE OF TREASON.

So, in this case, we are giving away a bare bones copy of The Voice of Treason CD (without all the extras). Then we try tempting people with a few extra goodies, and then hope they stick around to become long time supporters.

It’s not easy to sustain what we do. It really isn’t.

The level of quality we try to put into each project  is both time consuming as well as financially draining. It all comes out of our own pockets…. so anything we can do that is PROVEN to bring in new fans, we do. The hard truth is, we have to run promotions to help keep us in business.

We hope that those of you who have laid down your hard-earned coin on the music we make understand why we do the “Free CD” thing and don’t see this in a negative light.

Thanks a million to all of you who have shown us more love and support than we probably deserve.

-Andy and Bobby.