Here's my Free MP3 summary for the week.

For UK Readers

I wish there was something to report, but in the UK the Lily Allen mindset (that's the modern, airheaded version of the Metallica mindset for those of you with any history) is so strong among music promoters that the very idea of letting you listen to anything without paying for it first is anathema. This is the real reason they are in trouble. The only people who get to listen to new music are people who are willing to take the risk to download it in the face of the witch-hunt, or pay speculatively based on breathless fanboyism. The rest of us just keep listening to our back catalogue...

For US Readers

Meanwhile, there's no shortage of free tracks and sampler albums over ith the US. Clearly promoters over there are discovering that letting people hear an artist can easily lead to selling more of their music.

Amazon US downloads are restricted to verified US account-holders

• Black Whales: Books On Tape - Pretty routine if gritty-ish soft rock, with enough energy to make it worth a try. ★★★☆☆


• Mike Keneally: Inhale - Despite the heavy opening this is actually another ballad. Pace is rather slow and style treacly, lyric delivery a bit strained, not really to my taste but not bad. ★★★☆☆


• The Maldives: Tequila Sunday - The nasal intonation, fiddle riffs and the pedal steel confirm that this scratch-band rock number is from a "country" group, but it's actually quite rocky otherwise. I went to give it 3 stars and surprised myself by wanting to give it a 4th. ★★★★☆


• The Ryko - Flash of Light Sampler is excellent and worth downloading in its entirety. ★★★★★


• So is the Verve Vault Rhythm, Strings and Cool Breezy Jazz Sample, which has some of my all-time favourite jazz classics on it and is would have been worth paying for (well, apart from the fact I have all of them already!) ★★★★★


• As a footnote, the Celtic Sampler I recommended a few weeks ago obviously is worth paying for as Amazon is now charging $8.99 for it!

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Posted By webmink to WebMink on 10/03/2009 10:40:00 PM