Huge props to p.o.b over at Metafilter for posting this. Apparently Del decided that people need a bit of a pick-me-up in these tough economic times, so he has released a couple of small EPs for free (and legal) download. The two song packs available for free download aren’t very long or anything, but they are definitely worth checking out.
Click on the links above to stream them before you download.
Yes it is most definitely true! The amazing people at the South by Southwest music festival have voluntarily put up 6 GB of free music. And it’s legal.
If you are looking to fill that iPod you got for Christmas, this is a fantastic way to get to know new bands and get a dump truck full of free music legitimately.
To download it, click here: Free Music from SXSW (you need a torrent client).
For those of you who live in Toronto, or know anyone who does, tell them to get their asses up this morning to check out The Manifesto. Billed as Toronto’s “Urban Arts Festival”, it is secretly a giant pile of dopeness wrapped up in a blanket of amazing hip hop. If that’s not enough of an absurd description for you, let me just tell you that tonight (the last night of the festival, so sorry for the late word) features a free show from some of Canada’s best talent.
The Rascalz, K’Naan and k-os all take the stage, as well as a huge pile of local talent. Kamau, D-Sisive, and plenty of others. There’s a fresh foods market, a huge mural, workshops on breakdancing and graf, even tons of non-hip hop related stuff like capoeira and rumba.
The whole day event is totally free, so get yourself down to Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto anytime between noon and 10 pm today (Sunday) and have yourself a good ol’ time.
The after party? Good question, Steve. The after party, at a huge club (Circa), features two of hip hop’s greatest producers/deejays. DJ Premier AND Pete Rock.
Man, I can’t even tell you how jazzed I am, so I better see you out there. Check The Manifesto website for more details.
4080Records, thanks to some wonderful contributors, has been shown a website that will blow your entire mind.
Some enterprising fellow has been digitizing all his old LP’s. Travesty, you say? Sure, until you realise he’s been carefully categorizing and labeling them and putting them online as downloadable mp3s.
Aptly titled “My collection of 78 rpm records“, it’s got a ton of jazz and blues for your listening pleasure. As well, he’s got quite the collection of foreign music, including some folk songs from various countries.
As you all know, sites like this don’t tend to last too long, so head over and grab what you can.
Jelly Roll Morton – Fish Tail Blues
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Count Basie – Good Morning Blues
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Lifehacker has again pointed out a pretty awesome technique for getting music. YouTube has long been a source of pretty solid music and often it can be from some pretty unknown artists.
You can also find some pretty mainstream tracks if you are interested. Just head on over to YouTube, find the video of your choice, then copy and paste the link to that video.
Go on over to FlvTo, paste the link and voila. Free mp3.
Not that we endorse any kind of piracy, but it’s definitely the only way to get your hands on some of the original tracks on YouTube, that haven’t been released in any form. Still, we wholeheartedly believe you should support the artists you like, so just keep that in mind.
We’ve made a pretty big deal about Radiohead’s “pay what you want” scheme when they released In Rainbows. It was revolutionary, we declared. We were so proud of having a band show that maybe the major labels were inadequate, and that embracing digital distribution didn’t have to be hard.
It could change the music industry! Unless the group leading the way decided not to do it ever again. Radiohead has decided that it was a one-time thing.
Here’s what Thommy boy has to say
“Yes. It was a one-off in terms of a story. It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do. I don’t think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time,” Yorke told the Hollywood Reporter.
I guess it’s important to note that no one really has accurate numbers on just how successful the initiative was. It was, undoubtedly, a PR coup. It made Radiohead seem like the mighty little band standing up and thumbing their noses at the big bad labels. But, if it wasn’t successful, it’s not exactly a sustainable model.
Ah well, I guess the grand experiment is over. On the plus side, other bands have started to follow suit, and I can only hope that people will keep experimenting with digital distribution as an affordable method of making music available.
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