No, British band Years & Years aren’t minting their own cryptocurrency or trying to make millions from an initial coin offering (ICO). But the latest plank in the marketing campaign for their new album ‘Palo Santo’ is a fun riff on the crypto world.
It’s called YearCoin (naturally!) and it ties in to the narrative around the album – previously disseminated via the band’s Messenger bot and social media – about humans fighting back against their android overlords in a dystopian future.
“There is a small human rebellion being coordinated through illegal encrypted online communications and is funded by the cryptocurrency, YearCoin,” explains the new microsite for this element of the campaign. Fans can ‘mine’ and earn YearCoins with various actions, from saving the band’s tracks on Spotify and watching / sharing official videos, to sharing ‘encrypted messages’ on social media to promote the album.
What can they do with these coins? Obviously not trade them on cryptocurrency exchanges – just to stress, this isn’t a real cryptocurrency. Instead, they can be spent on a personalised ‘Palo Santo ID card’, which will yield “special surprises” for holders as the campaign progresses.
“We wanted a superfan initiative that borrowed the themes of cryptocurrency but was ultimately a bit of fun for fans,” a spokesperson from label Polydor told Music Ally. “We get some interesting data capture from this (pre save, follow-on Messenger) as well as it tying in perfectly with the futuristic themes of ‘Palo Santo’.”
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