Father John Misty Debuts His Next Album on Fake Music Streaming Service

Josh Tillman – better known by his stage name, Father John Misty – has taken aim at the now almost standard industry practice of streaming albums for free ahead of their releases. With his new album, ‘I Love You, Honeybear,’ set to arrive next month, Father John Misty has launched his own streaming service, Streamline Audio Protocol (SAP), to premiere his upcoming LP -- but of course, there’s a catch.

The newly launched site -- which features smiling stock photos wearing earbuds in sunny locales -- walks listeners through the dilemma.

“We all know the drill: music is expensive to buy, and, well, we don’t always end up liking what we hear. However, thanks to amazing technological innovations like streaming music we no longer have to pay for music we might not like,” the site proclaims. “Sophisticated discovery algorithms even guarantee that we never accidentally discover anything we might not like. There’s never been a better time to be a fan of sharing and discovering – even of music.”

But just in case you’ve forgotten, the site reminds visitors that it does in fact cost money to make music. That’s where SAP comes in. As Father John Misty explains himself, the site “saps” albums of their “performances, original vocal, atmosphere and other distracting affectations.”

Once you arrive at the bottom of the page, you can go ahead and listen to a watered-down version of ‘I Love You, Honeybear.’ Or, you could simply wait and buy the hopefully fuller-sounding version when it arrives Feb. 9 via Sub Pop.

While the site certainly is a clever gesture from the singer-songwriter, its mission of “leaving more time for discoverness, freedoming and sharehood” is almost frightening in its near believability as a new music streaming startup.