On July 14, Britt Daniel, lead singer of Spoon, raised an important point about the music industry: why should pre-ordering an album on iTunes net a buyer instant downloads of early singles, while fans of physical media (specifically vinyl) get nothing for waiting for the release date?

In a post made to the group’s Facebook and website, the singer wrote:

A few weeks ago as we were figuring out how to roll out the new Spoon album I kept coming back to this: why do we incentivize people to buy our music from big outlets but we don’t extend the same courtesy to actual record stores? Case in point: why do we encourage listeners to buy early by offering “instant gratification” tracks for pre-orders of the digital album, yet there’s no special motivation for buying music from Waterloo or Reckless Records?? And there’s no incentive to buy the format that so many of those listeners prefer—an actual physical item they can hold and read and play on a turntable.

As many vinyl fans can appreciate, the lack of reward for committing to purchase an album in print can be frustrating. Musicians should have every desire to reorient as many fans as possible to wait for a vinyl or CD copy of the album, with retailers like iTunes charging a 30-cent fee (on top of credit card companies taking another 25 cents) for every song sold. On a song that costs buyers 99 cents, that leaves a slim piece of the pie for the band themselves, considering that labels will take another healthy chunk of the money from every purchase.

For that reason, Spoon’s decision to incentivize the purchase of their upcoming release, “They Want My Soul,” though physical retailers like Chicago’s own Reckless Records is very wise indeed. Die-hard fans willing to shell out $20-$30 for their new album on vinyl can now head to participating stores, purchase a $2 10” containing the album’s first three singles, and hold on to their receipt as a means of pre-ordering the album when it comes out. Not only does this reward the die-hard fans most eager to listen to the early singles, but it gives the band a better chance at making a living from their next album.

The band is rightly being praised around the Internet for this strategy, one that could surely do wonders for many artists who have large swaths of fans plunking down the extra cash for a physical copy of their music. However, I hesitate to describe this strategy as “the first program of its kind,” as Daniels argues in his statement. Several acts and labels have taken this distribution method before, often with great success.

For example, Matador Records, long one of indie music’s most important and enduring labels, had a program in place called “Buy Early Get Now.” For handing over money for a physical copy of an upcoming album, buyers were treated to a variety of early giveaways, including 7” records, posters, MP3s, and more. While the label discontinued the program several years ago, it clearly foreshadowed Spoon’s current methods.

More directly, I remember purchasing an early 7” single of “Fallout” and “Polish Girl,” the first two songs released from Neon Indian’s 2011 release Era Extrana. The single contained a $2 coupon towards a vinyl copy of the album upon its release, offsetting the initial cost of the single and encouraging fans to ultimately buy a physical edition of the release, which I did.

Don’t get me wrong: I love this concept, and it convinced me to spend the extra money on the record once it’s released. The music business is in dire need of programs like this, reorienting fans away from digital-only music and pirating towards independent record stores. While local stores are on the upswing in recent years, thanks to the resurgence of interest in records, they make a small dent sales-wise next to the mighty Amazon and Apple.

So here’s to Spoon. Sure, by 2014 no business idea, just like no new song, is 100% original. But that doesn’t make “Vinyl Gratification” any less important.