I remember back in 1998 when I convinced my parents to let me join the Columbia House Music Club, and then I had to buy Chumbawamba's Tubthumping for something like $78. It was pretty horrible, but at least I got 12 CDs out of the deal.

The advance word of Beck's music club doesn't seem to suggest that he's out to trick 12-year-olds into unbreakable contracts; he's setting up a music club with pals like Devendra Banhart, Jamie Lidell, MGMT and Nigel Godrich where they will get together for one day and record a cover of an entire album. Then Beck will release the songs to subscribers in his music club.

The first album up? The Velvet Underground & Nico, the landmark debut from the Velvet Underground. It was apparently the only album the first participants could agree on.

When can you expect the cover album? Well, Beck's website will be under construction for at least a month, and the music club should start up sometime after that. [Pitchfork]