Porcupine Tree R.I.P. - v. Epilogue

[Casino-95]

That's fine, but disc 2 of The Incident is NOT a bonus disc, a separate entity or anything of the sort.  It's factually part of the record.

Disc 2 of The Incident is essentially a bonus disc, but it's included with every copy of the album.

In an interview, Steven Wilson explained why it's not a separate EP.  He was disappointed that the Nil Recurring EP sold so few copies compared to Fear of a Blank Planet.  When he did The Incident, he had four extra songs that didn't fit.  He liked these songs and wanted more people to hear them, so he included them as a second disc, even though all the material was under 80 minutes in length.

He compares disc 1 to a novel and disc 2 to unrelated short stories.

https://www.dprp.net/specials/2009_porcupinetree/

[KevShmev]

The funny thing is, Bonnie the Cat lyrically does sort of tie into the song cycle, depending on your interpretation of the lyrics, which were at times intentionally left ambiguous, which Wilson is a fan of doing. 

[ChuckSteak]

I thought Steven didn't give two shits about selling records..

[Mosh]

 Well, that'd be a naive thing to think. Every artist cares about that.

[King Postwhore]

I thought Steven didn't give two shits about selling records..

All do.  It legitimizes their craft. 

[hefdaddy42]

I chose option 1, but Deadwing might be my favorite PT album.

This.

[The Letter M]

I thought Steven didn't give two shits about selling records..

Perhaps just wanting more people to hear his creative works, and not JUST wanting to sell records. Of course, the best way to get people to legitimately hear your music is to sell records to them, but I'm sure plenty of his fans had downloaded or streamed his music anyway, so it was never reflected in his sales for Nil Recurring. That's probably why he ended up pairing those 4 songs with the main album. Package the song cycle with the EP just to ensure that fans would get to hear them, in a legit way, without making them wait or buy another disc, and with having the sales count so he knows people would listen to his stuff legally.

That's one problem with illegal downloads and most streaming - the numbers never get back to the artist, so how do they know people are listening to it? You could make a GREAT album but sell nearly none of it because fans will get it for free or super cheap, and so there's no indication that it was popular through sales. I could be completely off-base with all of this, but it just makes sense to buy music you love, and show the artist your appreciation for them with that record sale.

-Marc.