A SONG MANUFACTURED TO GO EXTINCT UNLESS IT’S REPRODUCED
April 23, 2014 – 8:26 am
Here’s something to those naysayers of sharing. With less than 400 left in the wild, Sumatran tigers are at risk of going extinct. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute have partnered with indie rock band Portugal. The Man, bringing science and music together to distribute an Endangered Song written for the project titled “Sumatran Tiger”. The song was lathe-cut onto 400 custom poly-carbonate records designed to degrade after a certain number of plays. There are no other copies of the song in existence. The records were sent to a select 400 folks who were asked to digitize and share the song through their social channels.
Portugal. The Man is an American rock band from Wasilla, Alaska. The group consists of John Gourley, Zach Carothers, Kyle O’Quin and Jason Sechrist.
Click here for the track (7.6MB; 224kbps).
The song will go extinct unless it’s digitally reproduced. The Sumatran tiger will go extinct unless we take action.
The song has already been shared on Soundcloud.
Click here to to learn more about The Endangered Song project.
6 Responses to “A SONG MANUFACTURED TO GO EXTINCT UNLESS IT’S REPRODUCED”
And this helps the plight of these animals how exactly? The problems of loss of habitat and poaching for profit will not be “fixed” by smug westerners making a clever clever record.
By Nigel on Apr 23, 2014
probably to bring the plight of the endangered species to the awareness of people hoping that this will help accomplish something. whether it be donations to fight the slaughter or legal matters or medical/vetinary assistance or protection services or to get the information thru to more people who just dont know whats going on hoping that maybe governmental people who have more power than the common man have might be able to do something. no knowledge accomplishes nothing. biodegradable copies are nice for the environment too but more important is the attention that the song brings to the unaware or uninformed.
im not saying that the problem will be fixed with this record just as the problem in ethiopia wasnt with live aid back in 85 but 100s upon 100s of millions if not a few billion on the planet became more aware that there was a problem there. small steps have to start somewhere.
By darth on Apr 23, 2014
Bob Geldof had the sense to realise that he on his own had very little chance of reaching the numbers of people he wanted to reach. That is why he got the likes of Queen, Status Quo, Phil Collins, et al, involved. I just can’t see a band like this reaching enough people. The ordinary man on the street has no idea who they are, particularly outside the USA. This is the sort of project that needs the largest audience possible. These “small steps” are too small.
By Nigel on Apr 24, 2014
saving 1000s upon 1000s of humans laying on the streets of ethiopia dying of starvation while their government couldnt care less and even has parades and kicks them out of the way so the parades can continue along (yes this actually happened) is a far cry from a tiger that 97% of us will never even see. of course this animal is hugely important dont get me wrong. but humans are obviously more important than animals. and the gathering together of giant musical acts to generate massive amounts of money to get food to those starving people (most of which ended up rotting on the docks anyway) is much more likely to accomplish something and even take place for that matter than anything coming close for a few 100 tigers. a song like this is a baby step. live aid wasnt really a baby step. no step in fact could have been bigger than live aid. it was the single biggest step ever attempted of its kind. i dont know that this song is intended to generate money per se. its just my theory. i believe its intention is to generate awareness. perhaps that will generate money. therein is the baby step i was referring to. ive never heard anyone say that a baby step was too small. wow.
By darth on Apr 24, 2014
Bob Geldof meant well, but failed to understand the politics behind the famine. In the modern world, going at least at far as the Irish potato famine, famines are NEVER solely the result of droughts or blights or other environmental causes. And, sadly, those who fail to understand this generally end up helping the people causing the suffering, which is what happened with Live Aid.
By Truth on Apr 25, 2014
Why I bother to answer I don’t know, but here goes.
“i believe its intention is to generate awareness”… Exactly my point. How if hardly anyone will ever get to hear it, or indeed hear about it?
“humans are obviously more important than animals”… No they’re not.
“ive never heard anyone say that a baby step was too small”… Well if you’re talking about an actual baby you’re quite right, but it’s a metaphorical baby. Baby steps are the reason that problems take so long to solve. If people stopped taking baby steps and took some adult steps for a change we may be able to sort out a few things.
You seem to be under the impression that I criticised this project because I don’t care about the issue… Quite the opposite. I care enough to want it more widely publicised than this is going to achieve.
By Nigel on Apr 25, 2014