Can a non-touring band on hiatus like Pangs sell a significant amount of songs and records online (via digital downloads like iTunes, etc.) by allowing Podcasters and blog folk to play any or all of their music? This is the question. This is the Pangs Podsafe Challenge. Our record, Stalemates & Sad Pastimes came out at the end of 2003 and received decent write-ups both online and in print. So far, here's what's happened in terms of digital download sales:

• iTunes: 1 copy of the whole album, 2 individual songs
• MusicMatch: 6 songs (three of which were When We Were Friends, should probably try and figure out why that is)
• MusicNet: 8 songs (um, what's MusicNet?)
• Napster: 2 songs
  
• Rhapsody: 14 Songs (That's sort of a lot, I mean, at least relatively)

OK, again, what I want to know is: Can Pangs sell some more songs or albums online without playing out (for the time being anyway), and without spending any substantial money? We're going to try. We'll start by trying to get Pangs played on some podcasts and see what happens with that. I have, in fact, already started. Last weekend, I uploaded all of Stalemates to the Podsafe Music Network at Podshow. I also uploaded the four songs from our online EP Let Down Since Prom. And surprisingly, we were played on two shows within a couple of days. The shows were:

• Reaching for Lucidity Podcast, October 18th (Song played: Predilections and Pills)
• Gamechat Live, October 16 (Song Played: When We Were Friends)

Pretty cool. Will the play result in sales?