What’s interesting is that, despite the obvious and lovely social aspects—greeting, eating, conversation—of these listening parties, the listening itself is done with headphones and in quiet, allowing the listener be alone with the music. an MBV post by Ryan Catbird, 15 June 2009
Yes, an exclusive Sufjan Stevens track, “The Lonely Man of Winter!” The catch? The only way you’re going to hear it is to get into the living room of Brooklynite Alec Duffy’s Prospect Heights apartment. Duffy won exclusive rights to the song via Sufjan’s 2007 contest– and rather than uploading it to the web, he decided that the song would be exclusively played in his apartment. Fans come from near and far, taking subways or timing flights to New York City to attend listening sessions. They walk through a corridor strewn with strollers to get to his corner apartment in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights. Since January, when he started the sessions, Mr. Duffy says about 60 people have come to his place to hear the tune, called “The Lonely Man of Winter.” Read the whole article at WSJ