Even huge Belle and Sebastian fans like us have to side with Aversion in looking askance at the new promotion Matador is running, seemingly on the band's behalf. Apparently, B&S's swell new BBC Sessions collection is being released in a limited-edition version that will be sold (key word) in April of 2009 in conjunction with Record Store Day. Fans (we assume they're the target demographic here anyway, who else would bother?) are invited to submit their own graphic creations to be considered for the cover of the aforementioned release. 10 finalists will be given the band's entire Matador catalog (which there's a good chance they already have), and the Grand Prize winner will have his/her artwork used as the limited-edition's official album cover.

If you're sensing something missing in this deal, perhaps its even the smallest amount of remuneration for work that will apparently be sold for profit by Matador, whose B&S catalog has sold in excess of a million records in toto, and whose last B&S studio album sold well into the six-figure range. While we're not suggesting any particular malice or exploitation aforethought on anyone's part, it is possible that the whole thing might been thought through just a bit better. Meanwhile, rumors that the Scottish popsters will be submitting advance copies of their next studio release in hopes of winning the right to be leaked and disseminated worldwide could not be verified.

[Aversion]