From the White House to "Real Housewives," transparency has become the promise of the digital age; everyone is broadcasting everything all of the time. So what happens when a rock band throws open the studio doors, stops being polite and starts getting real?

Des Moines rockers The Nadas found out when they set out last January to record their seventh LP, Almanac, virtually live. The rules were simple: the band would write, record and release one song a month all year. What’s more, every step of the process would be streamed live on the band's website and with unprecedented access to the creative process; fans were allowed to become an integral part of this album. By joining the band’s web-based Almanac Project, fans could monitor their blog and read the band’s project journal. Comments and criticisms on everything from lyrics to instruments were welcomed and even, in a few choice cases, incorporated into The Nadas’ music. In September of 2009, select fans that had joined the Almanac Project were extended an exclusive invitation to a special songwriting session arranged to write that month’s addition to this most unique album.