Nice one Scott, I'm not exactly rushing out for DefLep songs either, but the format makes sense for the bands, if not the fans yet.

Maybe not so relevant in DefLeps case with their legacy, but the format of regular shorter releases keeps a smaller band in the public eye more regularly, which in these days of being a distant niche genre, means a more regular flow of sales income to re-use for recording the next 4 songs.

The mere cost of posting CDs to distributors is higher than the margin the band/label might make supplying them (even if postage is shared) and then there are all the advertising costs which run for perhaps 3-4 weeks and then in the present album format, nothing for another 12-18 months. If 4 songs are released 4-6 monthly, the gap that has to be re-gained is so much shorter, people are still playing the last 4 songs and looking out for more. Maintaining the inertia is much cheaper and more effective than building from scratch over long quiet periods.

Using the likes of I-Tunes, bands can build up an album worth of available material over a year, but just be able to budget the issuing of it so much easier. Labels can share the promo costs between 3-4 bands if they can schedule the releases at the same time. It makes sense