New York, NY (Top40 Charts) We wanted our record to help other musicians who are struggling with mental illness.
OYLS, the indie music duo known for their viral hit "Maps," released their debut album on Friday with a first-of-its-kind album cover fully purchased by advertisers. Taking an innovative approach to their cover, OYLS divided their album art into 440 purchasable squares and gave fans and brands the opportunity to add to their album cover from $4.99 per square. In partnership with the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' charity MusiCares, OYLS generated $2,000 through the album art sale, providing critical financial resources to musicians struggling with mental health issues and substance abuse.
The duo's debut full-length album, "OYLS (For Your Consideration)," was released by Handwritten Records across all streaming platforms on October 16. The album cover features the auctioned artwork, a colorful mosaic of crowdsourced pet photos, company logos and portraits.
The self-proclaimed Profit-Conscious Musical Duo first announced the album art sale in late August, characterizing it as "a novel form of monetization, especially at a time when the coronavirus has dealt a heavy blow on traditional revenue streams for musicians," but later surprised fans by announcing that all proceeds would go to charity in a joint Instagram post with MusiCares.
OYLS, who previously hit the Spotify viral charts at #5, explains, "The new record deals with our struggles with mental illness and feelings of isolation and overwhelm by technology. We thought that the charity album art sale was a unique way to engage these themes while supporting other musicians who are struggling."
The 27-minute record is an electronic alt-pop opera about post-dotcom living, marked with songs that are each named after corporations, including singles "Visa (Paid for My Parking Ticket)," "Instagram (You Remind Me I'm Worthy)" and "Netflix (Your Product is Too Good)."
The record spans house, indie, synth pop and more. Orchestral arrangements complement the electronic soundscape, adding a lush and organic element to the synthesized elements over its nine tracks of seamless playback.
