Within 48 hours of the launch, the new Kaizers Orchestra single Hjerteknuser had reached #2 on the Norwegian iTunes «top 10» chart, making it Kaizers Orchestra’s fastest selling single on iTunes ever. The band’s original version of the song and the top three cover versions immediately went into heavy radio rotation. Kaizers Orchestra’s Facebook fan base increased by 100%. And their concert at Oslo’s largest venue sold out even before the new album was released.

Music fans love to pirate new releases. Kaizers Orchestra, one Norway’s top artists, was getting ready to release a new single. But this time, nobody could steal it: the only one way to hear the new Kaizers Orchestra single would be to play it yourself. On posters, through torrent sites, and via music and fan forums we released the sheet music first, one month before the song’s release. We collaborated with the largest music schools in Norway, where we faxed the note sheet to be copied and distributed among students. We engaged national radio broadcaster NRK’s youth channel, P3, and encouraged people to upload their versions to P3´s popular website. Soon, fans started posting their covers of «Hjerteknuser», ranging across all different genres. The word spread, and Kaizers Orchestra and their challenge soon became the hot topic of bloggers, Twitterers, fans, the press and national TV.

Nobody’s buying albums. All over the world, more and more people are getting their music digitally. And more and more, they’re getting it for free. This is especially true of new releases by top artists. Somebody leaks a hotly awaited track on the Web and within minutes, it’s been passed around, sampled and remixed, and nobody spent a dime. If you’re the artist, nobody gets a dime, either. On the flipside, fans will turn out in droves to see their bands live, so the best chance at making money is ticket sales. Kaizers Orchestra decided they’d rather win fans in the long term rather than sell a record in the short term. Their new release would be released, but not as a CD or an mp3, and not on vinyl. It’d be released on paper. And their fans would very literally make Kaisers Orchestra’s music their own.