Wednesday, March 15, 2006

MPFree

I'm amazed at the number of artists giving away big chunks of their albums (and sometimes whole albums) on their websites. I can only imagine that recording technology has become so cheap these days that they can afford to promote their touring and merchandise by giving music away?

Here are some I've been listening to:


Kristen Hersh and her bands 50 Foot Wave and Throwing Muses have put a whole EP along with several demo tracks available here. I've enjoyed Kristen's music for more years than I care to remember and it's great to see a major player in the american indie scene leading the way in this new style of promotion.

Kristen also has an excellent blog that you can read here.

50 foot wave - pretty ugly
kristen hersh - deep wilson

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Canadian group jets overhead have taken the download thing to the extreme by putting a whole album and ep on their website here. There is even a complete copy of the album in instrumental form just in case you just prefer it that way ... which i do!

jets overhead - blue is red (instrumental)
jets overhead - this way (instrumental)

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I have to thank Victoria at muruch blog for pointing me towards Allison Crowe's music. Allison is well known as an extremely web friendly artist so it's no surprise that there are lots of treats to download on her website here.

allison crowe - in my life (beatles cover)

allison crowe - independence day (by ani difranco)

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If you have a look at the sidebar you will see a list of other UK and Ireland based blogs. One of these belongs to the band johnny domino who have just posted a whole album of eclectic bits and pieces here. If you get the chance you should check out their blog for some extremely UKcentric stuff.

johnny domino - u r my oar
johnny domino - the canadian national anthem

Has anyone else got any other suggestions for artists who have posted lots of music?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think its really cool when actual "name bands" give something away for free, good for them! it gives something back to the loyal fans, and also gives the new listeners a kind of "heads up" on what to expect.
what shocked me though was Team-Love gave away the whole Jenny Lewis album for free a few days before the album was released through the shops.

kristin hersh is a goddess! when Sunny Border Blue was released i spent months promoting it to friends, family... people on the street

Tim Young said...

sorry gurg! I forgot to mention your excellent interview!!!

here it is as a link for everyone to read.

excellent allison crowe interview