In this age of downloading at the click of a button, it’s very easy for artists to lose touch with their fans so it’s nice to see when someone makes an effort to be a little different and original.

Man of the moment Calvin Harris is one such artist. Yesterday, he released a new app to tie in with and promote the release of his new album 18 Months.

The idea behind the app is simple. Fans can listen to all of the songs in full for free with only one slight catch; you have to keep moving to keep the music playing. The idea behind it is very clever really; to keep listening to the music, you have to keep dancing. You could cheat of course and just shake the phone but dancing like a fool is surely much more fun.

Another interesting feature of the app is the ability to unlock remixes of the songs by taking a picture of the album cover using the in-app image recognition feature. There is also a link for you to download the album when you get exhaustion from dancing too much.

As a marketing tool, this app is actually very clever and the ability to “try before you buy” is sure to be a hit with many thrifty music fans.

18 Months is available to download for free for both iPhone and Android.

{fcomment}