We all know that exciting feeling when a new album is about to drop from our favourite artist. It’s like being a kid in a sweet shop with a crisp new tenner or seeing that stocking for the first time on Christmas morning.
But sometimes you just can’t wait to unwrap the first sweet or present; you have to do it now. And with new music, it’s the same. You just want to hear those new tunes now.
Well, as fans of country music behemoth Zach Bryan have been discovering recently, there is a way that music fans can enjoy new albums earlier than they were expecting if they use a VPN.
The Zach Bryan effect
The new eponymous album from Zach Bryan dropped around the world today (Friday, 25th August 2023). Zach is a massive deal in US country music, and many of his legion of fans simply couldn’t wait until midnight to hear his new album. So, they came up with an innovative way to use a VPN to hear the new songs several hours early.
The first major country in the world in which it was midnight was New Zealand. The calendar clicked over to Friday 25th, about 17 hours before the US East Coast did and 19 hours before the West Coast.
That meant that Zach Bryan’s album was technically released in New Zealand first. But with all the major music streaming platforms using geo-blocking to stop people listening to content from other country’s libraries, how could they hear Zach Bryan’s new album early?
The answer is simple. They used a VPN.
Most premium VPNs like ExpressVPN and NordVPN have New Zealand-based servers, and by connecting to those servers, Zach Bryan fans were able to access New Zealand content libraries.
And as these content libraries were updated to include the new Zach Bryan album many hours before their US equivalents, that meant they could hear the new songs first.
Loving the new music
Needless to say, Zach Bryan’s hoards of fans were delighted by this discovery, and the word quickly spread on social media.
“Set your VPN to New Zealand and have a [Zach Bryan] day”, said one Twitter user called Christine, along with a screengrab of the new album on her chosen streaming site.
“Guys, VPN to New Zealand… get the album early!!!!,” exclaimed another Twitter user called ZBobsessed.
A quick glance around social media shows that tons of other Zach Bryan fans had the same idea. And it was well worth it because the new album has gone down like a storm with his many fans.
A technique that will work for any artist
Now, we know that some of our readers may not be country music obsessives. Some of you may not have even heard of Zach Bryan.
But this is not a technique that is just for his music. With a VPN, it is possible to have early access to just about any artists who release their new content in this way.
Assuming that you don’t already live in New Zealand, this will always be the first country to get new music being released at a set time around the world.
As long as you have a quality, premium VPN such as ExpressVPN or NordVPN, you will be able to connect to a New Zealand-based server and, therefore, access that music early.
Yes, it may only be a few hours earlier than you would otherwise have heard it anyway. But for diehard fans, that is a few hours less to wait, not to mention a chance to get one over on your mates who haven’t picked up on this trick already.
There are lots of reasons to sign up for a VPN. Enhanced online security and privacy and unblocking streaming content around the world are two of the most popular.
But for real music fans, hearing new music early is perhaps the biggest attraction of all. It’s certainly a trick we will be using to hear new music early moving forward.
via WhiskeyRiff
