Electro artist Moldover has released his new album with a fully functional optical theremin on the CD case. I hear his music is pretty good, but it’s the unique idea behind its packaging that’s sure to bring more attention to the physical CD. The album case theremin sports a headphone jack and a speaker. The wiring on the theremin itself spells out the artist’s name and track titles.

There are only two main drawbacks here: 1) the theremin version of the CD will set you back $50 (a token, considering that you’re getting music and a musical instrument in one convenient package);  2) you’ll probably look silly shaking a jewel case in public.

Still, if the record labels have any intention of dispelling the New York Times’ ominous prediction about the industry, then they’ll urge their artists to start adopting innovative ideas that make CDs worth buying again. The album as we know it is on its knees right now. Radiohead has already abandoned that format. Why should people shell out 15 bucks for an album that may only contain 1 or 2 decent songs? If I pay to go see a movie or buy a DVD I expect to see a good movie not 2 good scenes.

I hope people go out and buy Moldover’s CD in droves to show the industry that consumers appreciate artists who take the extra step to deliver not just good music but some sort of artistic incentive to make the music worth buying.