Grammy-Nominated Songwriters Hanson Offer Fans a Custom Tune Written About Them as Part of Online Album Presale of The Walk

Grammy-Nominated Songwriters Hanson Offer Fans a Custom Tune Written About Them as Part of Online Album Presale of The Walk

Early buyers will receive instant digital downloads of the fourth studio album available on Hanson.net

LOS ANGELES, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Multi-Grammy nominees Hanson, who have collectively sold more than 15 million albums worldwide and been dubbed by the Village Voice as "the finest straight-up rock band in America," will release their fourth studio album, The Walk, on their own 3CG Records, July 24.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070621/LATH099 )

On Friday June 8, the band launched the presale of The Walk on their website, Hanson.net, where they offer an immediate non-DRM digital download of the album with each presale purchase. Exclusive to the band's site, visitors can choose between pre-ordering the album alone, or the exclusive CD+DVD bundle which includes the band "up close and personal," performing acoustic tracks live. On day of release, fans will then receive their hard copy of the CD.

As part of the special album presale promotion, on Friday June 22 the band is launching a contest offering fans the chance to be the lucky winner of a personalized song written especially about them by Hanson. The contest rewards fans for their efforts in helping drive traffic to the band's website by placing customized banner ads, click-throughs and links that result in the most hits. A download of the song will be given away for free to anyone who enters.

"We are all music fans first so we know that inviting people to get a hold of the record early can only excite and motivate. If we are doing something we think is unique it is only natural to encourage our fans to help spread the word," said drummer Zac Hanson. "Being independent makes it possible to build a stronger relationship with our fans. Doing the presale is simply about giving our fans more," added Isaac.

Writing a song customized to a person selected at random could seem daunting for any artist, but for a band whose drummer was the youngest Grammy-nominated songwriter in history, it is a welcome challenge. The band sees it as a chance to do something truly unique for their fans.

"Especially for this album, it is important to encourage a vibrant community of people discovering music. What better way is there than through a song to thank someone for searching out our music and telling others about it?" added Taylor.

Co-produced by legendary producer Danny Kortchmar (Billy Joel, James Taylor, the Eagles), The Walk was inspired, in part, by Hanson's recent trip to South Africa and Mozambique, where they recorded with two children's choirs for the new album, which appears on the song "Great Divide." The band has donated their proceeds from the downloads of the single, originally released last November in honor of World AIDS Day, to the Perinatal HIV Research Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa.

"The Walk refers to the walk of life," says Zac. "People make decisions to go for dreams, to do something difficult, or they decide to be part of the crowd that watches. We take action."

The Walk follows Underneath, the 2004 debut release on their 3CG label, which went to #1 on the Billboard Independent chart, producing the #2 single, "Penny and Me."

The band also recently appeared on the Howard Stern Show and Fox News, with an upcoming spread in People magazine. Please visit http://www.hanson.net/ for more information.

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Source: Hanson

CONTACT: Media, Jonathan Wolfson of Wolfson PR, +1-818-615-0499,
wolfsonpr@hotmail.com; or New Media, Daniel Da Silva of Girlie Action Media,
+1-212-989-2222 x106, danny@girlie.com, both for Hanson

Web site:

http://www.hanson.net/

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