Hello popfans, and apologies for the long time since the last Matinée news update. We started the year with an ambitious and exciting release schedule, including a mix of singles and albums from some Matinée favorites and a handful of new bands. We had no idea just how dramatically the pandemic would impact everything in our lives and yours.
As the earliest release dates approached, the world was in chaos and pop music seemed like a very low priority for everyone. Tentative release dates were rescheduled over and over as we looked forward to recovery, and here we are eight months later with zero releases for the year.
In June, we decided to use the unplanned hiatus to address some antiquated features of the Matinée website. The initial plan was a modest update to the shopping cart to enhance security features and modernize the checkout experience. This plan was quickly revised, and ultimately we embarked on a complete overhaul of the entire website. The results of our efforts are now live, and we are very excited to share it with you!
The new website is streamlined, modern, and mobile friendly at last! The news page is the source of the latest information as always but we’ve improved the layout and navigation. The page includes an archive of the past 20 years of Matinée news for astute indie scholars and insomniacs alike.
The brand new Matinée shop is the main feature, showcasing our latest releases and celebrating our impressive back catalog with new sorting functionality by artist and format. Each release page provides key details including catalog number, release date, tracklisting, and promotional text plus reviews. Each page also includes a Soundcloud player so you can preview tracks before you buy.
Each page presents all available formats (cd, vinyl, and digital download) and the ability to add a release directly to your shopping cart. The shop even features exclusive downloads for the early vinyl-only releases that never made it to other download sites. The brand new shopping cart includes the latest security features and a thoroughly modern checkout experience with direct credit card payments plus accelerated processing via PayPal and more.
Our new artist pages are the perfect way to ensure you know about all available releases from your favorites including compilation appearances, and the handy discography page is a dream come true for label completionists who want to view the entire Matinée catalog all in one place. Is your collection complete?
Finally, the new contact page presents various ways to get in touch with the label, including our email address and links to Matinée pages on Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud and Youtube. It also includes a handy place to subscribe to our new Matinée newsletter for advance notice of forthcoming releases, special offers, and sales in the Matinée shop.
The new website is the work of the incomparable Chris McFarlane of IndiePages and Jigsaw Records fame, who has created quite a few websites including one for our pals at indie label and distribution juggernaut Darla Records. Chris developed the first Matinée website 20 years ago and orchestrated the majorly expanded one that served us since 2012, but we think this new one is his finest work to date! He is a technological wizard and one of the nicest guys I have ever met so if you are in the market for a cost effective e-commerce solution he’s definitely your guy.
Finally, huge thanks also to all the brilliant Matinée artists for entrusting us with your incredible releases and to our remarkably loyal fans as we would be nothing without your support. We’re really proud of everything we have accomplished with the label since 1997 and we’re excited to see what the future will bring.
We have an impressive backlog of rescheduled releases that we’ll announce in very short order, including imminent releases from My darling YOU!, Northern Portrait, The Royal Landscaping Society, Strawberry Whiplash and more, plus a very special Matinée compilation. Watch this space for new release details and exclusive previews in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, we could use some help testing out our fancy new shop! To incentivize you, all orders $30 or more will have a special 30 percent discount automatically applied at checkout so add a few things and make your stereo happy. The sale applies to everything in the shop and ends at midnight on September 7 so you might as well check it out now. Have fun exploring the website and please let us know if you have any comments or suggestions. We are really excited about it and hope you like what we’ve done!