When Digital Distribution Becomes Art

You know what’s too cool? This is.

In an exploration of digital content delivery, record label Ghostly International is debuting a new label format: the Totem. Looking more like an otherworldly obelisk, this monolithic object serves as much more than a simple sculptural keepsake. Each Totem is embossed with its own three-character code that grants the listener access to a unique, private page where they can stream or download the album.

Check out what Ghostly has to say about the debut Totem, for Matthew Dear’s Black City:

The MDBC Totem is both a sculptural representation of the themes explored in Black City and a symbolic conduit to the music itself. Vaguely reminiscent of one of the soot-blackened skyscrapers that might populate Dear’s creeping, nameless city, the stacks upon the totem also call to mind the many shaped prongs of a universal power adaptor. In this sense, the totem is not simply a miniature building, but an abstract key to an unknown door. The branding of the totem has been purposefully reduced to its bare essentials—only the letters MDBC and unique three-digit suffixes are included—so that the totem’s meaning remains discernible only to its beholder.

Is this sounding like a stupid idea to you? Then it’s a good thing you’re not an artist. To me, this Totem concept represents a beautiful merging of true art with digital content. If you’re still not swayed, though, maybe you’ll appreciate the idea a bit better after this making of video.