(Legal) Free Music

In these days of file sharing and illegal downloading it's possible to get the vast majority of music for free. It's a fact that the lost revenue from album sales due to this is killing the music industry. However it's also true that if one can obtain a band's album for free more people are likely to listen to it. So often as a result of file sharing a band's popularity can increase dramatically, however popularity on its own won't keep a band going, what is needed is album and ticket sales. As a result of this many artists have released portions of their work for free download online. Since the artist themselves have allowed this it has the benefit to the downloader of being entirely legal.

Releasing albums for free download has been going for a while now. It was made famous in 2007 when alternative rockers Radiohead allowed fans to set their own price when downloading their album. Since Radiohead did this many bands have followed suit. So now there are numerous artists out there who let people obtain their work for free. In this article I'll detail a few of these that I've come across during my internet wanderings.

Dahlia Seed

Dahlia Seed were a hardcore band from North Carolina, USA. They were in existence for only 4 years, from 1992-96, but during that time produced some great work. As far as I know they produced three albums, one of which is a compilation of new studio tracks and live versions of songs from previous works. All of these are available to download for free from their website at: http://www.dahliaseed.com/. I've so far listened to two of their albums of which their debut album Valentine Kid's Litter is my favourite. At 160kbps the recording quality isn't fantastic, and sometimes this shows where songs feel a little rough around the edges. However it's not really a problem as the overall tone the band uses is a little distorted (intentionally) anyway. The power of this band is astonishing, their songs are fuelled with a great energy. This is due largely to the vocals of Tracy Wilson whose ferocity electrifies the music and brings the raw emotion of the songs to the fore. As far as particular highlights of this album go, I'd have to say my favourite songs are Teas and Milk. Teas starts with a great riff before launching into a bridge-type part which leads into the main section. As an overall piece the song isn't perfect, but it's very catchy. Milk is the best example of the way Wilson's vocals captivate, the emotions of regret and hate in the lyrics are brought across to the listener with the force of a battering ram. Dahlia Seed are a band with a level of raw power that many bigger and more popular bands lack.

Dia de los Muertos

Another band that alllows some of their music to be downloaded free of charge is Dia de los Muertos, these metallers hail from Los Angeles, California. Like with many other legal free albums, in order to get the music you need to fill in a form. The album they offer is called Satánico Dramático, which translates as something along the lines of "Satanic Drama". The vocals are in spanish, but this isn't always obvious as, like a lot of death metal, the lyrics can't always be understood. The music itself isn't all that unique, but the use of spanish guitar in places is a nice touch. Their Myspace is here: http://www.myspace.com/quevivanlosmuertos.

I Have Clones

I came across this project today and have taken a liking to it. It's a nice combination of Electronica and Hardcore. The songs are often interspersed with speaking, with the occasional snatches of conversation that are present for just the right amount of time, which add a splash of creativity to the music that is already fairly inventive. Since I've only listened to the album once I can't say too much about it without listening more (which I plan to do in the future), but it's definitely worth the bandwidth it takes to download (it took about 3 minutes on my very poor connection) and the time spent listening to it. Here's the link to their website: http://ihaveclones.com/.

Credit where credit is due: Two of the above bands (Dahlia Seed and I Have Clones) I discovered using this blog: http://freealbums.blogsome.com/, so please give them the praise for finding the bands. The other band (Dia de los Muertos) I found on the website of the UK magazine Classic Rock, their website can be found here: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/ so please don't give me credit for locating them either.

Well that's all for now. I won't say when I'll be back, since I don't know, but I hope to be back soon. Just think this is the second proper entry in 2 days, I think that's some sort of record for me.

Thanks,

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I feel obliged to say that, through this article or in general, I am not condoning or supporting illegally obtaining music or any other intellectual material. I also feel the need to say that I am not affiliated in any way to any of the above bands, websites or corporations thereof and will make no profit from purchases from any of those bands, websites or coporations, or the publication of this article.