Coldplay Has Hot Track...For Free!!

It seems as though every band who has released a free single or album over the past year (Trent Reznor, Radiohead, and now Coldplay) are laughing these days...all the way to the bank. For both Reznor and Radiohead, each experiment with free music was a huge success in many ways, not just selling music (yea, people still paid for the music even though it was free including yours truly as I'm one of the few people who still prefer a physical album copy to a digital only version...weird, I know).

Bands releasing free music have seen tremendous increases in website traffic, often times causing sites to temporarily crash due to such a huge onslaught of traffic. They have also increased exposure to people who may not have purchased songs, including radio listeners as Coldplay's "Violet Hill" managed to creep up into the top 40 on BBC radio reaching an estimated 33 million listeners across Europe. Undoubtedly this was due in part because people were able to download the song and then wanted to hear it on the radio.

So what seems to be the result of offering free music is a large amount of sales (in the album, concert tickets, etc), increased exposure, not to mention that this is generally considered the best thing a band can do by its fans only causing them to be even bigger supporters of said band. Seems like a win win win (option #5) situation for the band, fans, and label.

The true test for this type of outlet, as MG Siegler points out, is if this will actually work for small bands who don't have the kind of exposure that Radiohead, Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), and Coldplay have. However, if you've been paying close attention, a great deal of bands have been doing this for quite some time through places such as myspace, personal websites, Napster/Kazaa (pre-Metalica/RIAA shutdown), and various other digital forms of socialness.

So the question is have these bands actually benefited from being able to free expose themselves to the masses? Yes and no. Yes in that people can access them and No in that any schmo can upload his/her song and clutter the already extremely over-populated world of "indie" music with not that many great ways to distinguish the good from the bad.

However, big picture in tact, we'll most definitely be seeing more free music from major bands, as well as small unknown bands, in the near and hopefully distant future.

More on Coldplay's Single:
Coldplay's Play: Free for All?
MG Siegler at VentureBeat
Chris Picks
Stereogum's Take

Animal Collective: Harder Than You Think?

Pitchfork media announced that Public Enemy and Animal Collective will be among some of the acts to play the Pitchfork Festival, which is held in July annually in Union Park in Chicago. Other performers of note (at least the ones I'm excited about) include grime pioneer Dizzee Rascal and singer-songwriter M. Ward. Quite an eclectic and talented line-up; if you need a two-day crash course in indie music-with a side of Flava-Flav- this is the fest this summer to attend. And for just $50 dollars for the whole weekend, let those Bonnaroo-goers this year eat cake!

I'm not one to diss the 'Roo; I was a loyal attendee for three years in a row, but this summer's selection of festivals is pretty impressive even without Bonnaroo. Michigan's Rothbury has somehow managed to book the likes of Snoop Dogg along with the Allman Brothers and John Mayer (Primus was the act that most excited me on that roster); in August the nation's armpit (also known as New Jersey) will host Radiohead, Jack Johnson, Cat Power, Girl Talk and others at All Points West. One of my favorite live acts, The Flaming Lips, will be festival hopping from Summer Camp to Wakarusa. If you've got some time and a hankerin' for good live shows and warm weather, summer 2008 should treat you well even if you can't make it down to Manchester, Tennesee.

Sorry, Lars Ulrich.

Arcade Fire Cleans up the PLUG Awards

The PLUG independent music awards were held this past Thursday in Philadelphia. PLUG is "a cartel" of various people connected to the indie scene who put together nominees in categories that range from "Album of the Year" to "Music Blog of the Year". After the nominees are chosen, the general hipster public is allowed to vote online for the winners. And the big winners are:

Album of the Year- "Neon Bible" by the Arcade Fire
Female Artist of the Year - St. Vincent (Annie Clark)
Male Artist of the Year - Andrew Bird
Americana Album of the Year - "Shepherd's Dog" by Iron and Wine
Hip Hop Album of the Year- "None Shall Pass" by Aesop Rock
Artist of the Year - Radiohead
Live Act of the Year- Arcade Fire
Music Festival of the Year - Coachella


...you can probably guess the rest of the winners, or if not just ask that guy wearing girls pants and girl hair with noise-canceling headphones on drinking fair trade coffee, checking the updates on the Pitchfork Media website (the obvious choice for Music Website of the Year) on his Macbook Air as he glares at you because you're judging him.

Animal Collective was nominated a number of times, winning only "Indie Rock Album of the Year" for "Strawberry Jam." (Wait...aren't all of these albums indie)? If you haven't given Animal Collective much of a listen to, this would be a good one to start with. It's one of their more accessible albums, and probably my favorite. The website is worth a visit- I have heard at least a bit of a lot of the artists nominated, but there were many I haven't heard before, so if you're always on the prowl for some new tunes, this site is great because they provide streaming clips of all of the winners and nominees.

I was glad to see "Iron and Wine" receive some credit, as well as Andrew Bird. Cliches aside, all of the winners were definitely deserving. When it comes to picking trendy music, hipsters know whats up. But short shorts on guys will never be trendy in my book.

Lollapalooza to Book Pretentious Brits, MMJ Releases Track List

Rolling Stone reported this week that the likely headliners of Chicago's Lollapalooza will be Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. The announcement hasn't officially been made, but apparently the Chicago Tribune, who first reported the news, thinks their "industry sources" are pretty reliable. (Although, if you ask me, anyone who puts quotes around their title is pretty sheisty...and Chicago newspapers have been known to stick their foot in their mouths, ala Led Zeppelin headlining Bonnaroo). It's the closest Radiohead will get to Detroit, my home town and a city they have historically avoided.

My Morning Jacket, one of my favorite bands, released the track list for their upcoming June 10 release "Evil Urges," reports Pitchfork media. If you haven't already heard their 2005 ablum, "Z", I highly recommend it. Hailing out of Louisville, Kentucky, MMJ is heavily influenced by southern rock, which is one of the reasons their live shows are so much fun. On "Z," though, Jim James, the band's singer and rhythm guitarist, showcases his superior song writing skills. "Z" is southern rock minus the cheesiness, plus some experimentation that that yields some innovative results. The only dates the band has confirmed on the festival circuit are Coachella and Bonnnaroo.

Also on the Pitchfork website, Lil' Wayne supports safe sex.