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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Music – yours for free, supporting independent musicians

Sometimes I post things that are ads, etc, but this is not an ad – it’s like a Public Service Announcement. There are some Christian Contemporary artists who I really enjoy – among them: Derek Webb, Jill Phillips, and Andy Gullahorn – who are not signed with any major label. There are a lot of reasons for this, and Jill and Andy have been to Baylor Chapel a number of times to talk about piracy and the difficulty of being with a major label. I won’t get into all of it here, because surely I will misrepresent them if I try.

But they have formed a group of independent artists, supporting each other and helping get their music out. In fact, Derek Webb has been releasing his CD’s free of charge for a few years now (I got “Mockingbird” as a free download at least two years ago). Today, I got information about a new website: http://www.noisetrade.com/, that features these artists and others with their albums FREE if you refer three friends to the site, or you can “pay what you want.”

This is a great way to get exposed to new music and to support independent artists. The artists at the site are very diverse in their sound and approach to music, so no matter what kind of music you like, you might find something there to enjoy. I would absolutely recommend the three artists I mentioned above (!)

If you get time, visit Noisetrade.com and take a listen. If you like it – download some of the albums, refer some friends, and help small (but great) artists to succeed!






3 comments:

Sarah Gail said...

I happen to love these artists as well (2 of the 3 have Belmont affiliations so that helps!!) Thanks for passing this along!

Joel Aric Schwartz said...

I wholeheartedly agree with your endorsement. I joined a month ago and have downloaded some great music from the site and HIGHLY recommend everyone to check this out.

You have to give your zip code, but the idea behind it is that artists make the majority of their money from touring and merchandising, so if they know where their fans are located, they can try to organize tours in such a way that they can accommodate fans and have a larger turnout of people they already know are interested in their music.

Another perk is that the new EP from the newly reunited Sixpence None the Richer is on noisetrade.com

I've been meaning to post about this very thing for awhile, but I'll be glad to piggyback on your post until comps are done. :)

Mel Gruver said...

Tif-

My great friend Joe Garner has his EP on this site. You should check it out. He's pretty mellow, and awesome.

I miss you.