&gt; Perhaps they value the publicity (and resulting discussion of their work as &quot;serious art&quot;) more than the extra money a regular release could have brought.<p>... which is exactly what the previous posters said: The album isn&#x27;t good enough to sell great and would likely hurt them in the long run and so a gimmick release will at least have positive publicity and wouldn&#x27;t ruin the brand. If it was good enough, that publicity would outshine the gimmick release and would also bring in more money short-term.