Who am I:
I am an artist. I am a musician. I am a visionary who sees where the music industry is headed and wants to lead it there. My most recent project is a concept album titled, No One Ever Sticks Around That Long by The Eidolons. The cover art is a drawing I did of a girl striking matches She is sitting against a mangled, baron tree. Burnt match sticks spell out the title and smoke from the last match in her hand spells out the band name. The T-shirt is my drawing of the match box. It features the dh logo on the box. As of now, there is no physical CD. When you buy the T-shirt you get the album via the attached download card!

Let's go back to the beginning; the time I discovered The Beatles. I think it was a clip of their performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. As a little boy, I was amazed to watch them on TV and hear "She Loves You". Growing up, I wanted to BE The Beatles. More distinctly, I wanted to be John Lennon.

When I was in my teens and started my second rock band, Dashboard Marys, I also started my first label to put out our tape. It was called Pale Evangelist (the bass player hated that name).

After High School, that band became a horrible gothic band, Quijita. After breaking up, my friend Todd and I started an industrial band named Cybersmack. It was actually at that point that my Digital Heroine label came into existence. It was originally named Digital H, and the "H" was short for "heroin". The name of our label alluded to our band name. We put out a tape titled, Another Needle In The Track, which received college radio airplay and attention from industrial clubs and magazines.

I eventually moved from Southern California to San Francisco. I began to DJ under the name Skeletor MkNasty. This was when the electroclash scene happened. I would try out my own songs in my DJ sets and sing on top of them, I remember beaming a bright spotlight on the audience and dropping balloons from the DJ booth.

The songs I wrote became an album titled, The Gutters of Heaven. I dropped the Skeletor persona and used my real name. Sean Allen Fenn & the Maids of Dishonor made their live debut in October of 2004 at a party named Frisco Disco which happened at The Arrow Bar. I also added the "e" at the end of "heroin" to my label. It was tongue-in-cheek and perhaps in bad taste to name a label after an illegal substance, not to mention a bad life decision such as heroin.  I must admit, however, that it amuses me when I meet ignorant people who don't know the difference between "heroin" and "heroine". That's the sense of humor that I have - I like toying with people's minds. This old guy asked me recently what I do and I told him about my label. He reacted really funny because he had no idea what I was talking about - downloads and fashion and blah blah blah - and then I said the name and he freaked out. "Heroin?" Some people get it: the name Digital Heroine represents a virtual female hero. I feel like it's a goddess that's going to save the music industry in this internet generation.

I know this girl who was bragging to me that she can watch her Beyoncé on YouTube and doesn't have to buy her music. Kids really believe that they should not have to pay for any content on the internet. All the music should be free.

I met Michael Gira and told him about my idea for the label; how the music is attached to the T-shirt via a download card. This is a man I admire. He started Swans, Young God Records, and discovered Devendra Banhart. When I asked him if he thought it was a good idea, do you know what he told me? "Give up". He went on to say, "the problem is people think it's okay to steal". Meaning he thinks file sharing is stealing. "You can't download a T-shirt", I rebutted, "...if you had a T-shirt to sell, I would buy it". He finally and begrudgingly admitted that I have a good idea.

What it is:
The Digital Heroine line starts with exclusive recordings from NY bands which are attached as a download card. It's a line of T-shirts initially. It will expand to bags and other merchandise.

Why I started all of this:
Identity. One can talk about music for the sake of music, but it comes down to how it makes you feel relative to your place in life. Why did hip-hop happen? Why did rock n' roll happen? Why did jazz happen? They happened because the identity of those kids needed to be expressed. A punk rock kid and a goth dress the way they do and listen to that music and go to those shows because they identify with it. That's their culture. You have to look emo to be emo.

Why do people wear the clothes they like? It makes them feel good about themselves. Women have the shoes and handbags which give them a sense of well-being. The right heels can elevate a woman's self-esteem and give her the sense of a certain status.

In other words, I see the bigger picture. The only thing separating the elements of a particular culture are the industries trying to capitalize off of them. Namely the major record labels. They did that by exploiting the bands and subsidizing the many artists to actually make profit from very few. Then they force-fed the hit makers to the unassuming, vapid public. This leaves thousands of bands that never recoup their debt to the record companies and have signed away their rights to ownership of their music.

Why would any artist be okay with giving away their ownership of the music that they have put all their energy into? The prize should not be to "get signed". As for myself, I want to be my own boss. That's why I started my own label. Instead of just getting a check, I would rather be the one who writes the checks.

I got into this for the love of music. But it doesn't end there. I love life. Music doesn't end when you press stop. It keeps playing in the clothes that you wear and the things that you do. It's in the things you say and the friends that you have. What do you do with friends? You share. Share music, share food, share thoughts and tastes.

 That is the deception that is keeping us from moving forward - that there should be a separation between music and merchandise. This year, 2009, global music sales will fall to $23 billion. At the same time, digital music sales will rise to 1.7 billion (USD). How can an indie artist's income rely on CD sales when many major label artists no longer can? Most fans may or may not buy the CD but they will download  the mp3 by legal or illegal means. What will they buy? Clothes. The T-shirt. Something their favorite artist designed. People will always share music. It used to be mix tapes and now it's mp3s. Remember when that douchebag from Metallica made a stink about Napster? That fucking hypocrite's band wouldn't have had the fan base they did without heshers sharing tapes of that band's music. The technology has just changed the dynamics. Justice, MGMT, and Crystal Castles would not be known like they are without their mp3s having been posted on blogs. Eventually, the digital file will be the dominant format. No one can stop it. So what do we do, give up (as M. Gira suggested)? I don't think so. I believe in a concept which I call, faciomúsica coadunatio, the unification of fashion and music. Without the separation of the music from the merchandise, money can be made.

In the movie The Matrix, Neo takes the red pill and can't go back. He discovers that people in the Matrix are living in the past; in a false construct of what is really a world controlled by sentient machines that are using humans as an energy source. Digital Heroine is Neo and the old major record label executives are the sentient machines which are exploiting bands as their energy source. I've taken the red pill. Technology is set in motion and there is no turning back.

Whom is this for:
For the woman who wants to wear a design representing her favorite album by her favorite artist. For the man who always buys the band T-shirt and never dresses poorly. Digital Heroine is for the music lover who seeks out artists which are not mainstream. It's for anyone who knows about a particular indie band before everyone else does. It's for champions who go for the gold and never give up.

When is this happening:
Now. I want to release something new this Spring. I need a business partner.  What I am asking is for anyone interested in joining me contact me through myspace, email, or snail mail (PO Box 580. Brooklyn, NY 11211 USA)!