NYC Street Musicians Boost Brit Rock Band Album

British rock band Oasis is getting open-air play from New York City street musicians playing tunes from its latest album in advance of its October release.

Some 30 street musicians started playing Oasis songs from its “Dig Out Your Soul” album to be released on Oct. 7 two weeks ago. The musicians learned four tunes from the band in a rehearsal session recorded for an online video documentary on Sept. 12.

The musicians are all performers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Music Under New York Program. That program enables the musicians to perform for tips at designated locations in New York City train and subways stations.

The musicians were selected for the Oasis project by NYC & Co., the city’s marketing and tourism organization. Its creative agency, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, is overseeing production of the documentary, which will debut online shortly after the album’s release. Initial footage shot at the rehearsal is accessible on that site now.

The band’s Warner Bros. label approached NYC & Co. to initiate the unique project.

“It was kind of like a reverse [album] launch,” said George Fertita, CEO of NYC & Co. “They know that this is the center of media and pop culture in the world.”

Music fans have been encouraged to post their own videos of street musicians performing the unreleased Oasis tunes on a YouTube Web site. The result has been a proliferation of viral music videos online, according to Fertita.

“The promotion now has a life of its own. It’s all over the Web,” he said.

Music Under New York currently provides venues for 100 soloists and bands that perform at 25 locations in the New York City transit system. Bios of musicians who participated in the Oasis project.

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