Grassroots capitalism in indie music: the free EP download as springboard
"Cash Rules!" Local rapper Sol is young, way above average at rapping, has good taste in beats, and his new album "The Ride&q...
"Cash Rules!"
Local rapper Sol is young, way above average at rapping, has good taste in beats, and his new album "The Ride" is worth checking out.
In general, Sol does skills-centric trad-rap, but not obnoxiously so. He doesn't do that East Coast shadow-battle try-hard style. Instead, Sol tells stories and mixes melody with his cadence. He comes off decently lyrical, with a smooth style.
But don't take my word for it (shout out to Reading Rainbow). Sol's got seven songs (the "Dear Friends" EP) freely downloadable at his site, solsays.com. The free songs aren't throwaways, not b-sides and bootlegs. They're good.
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The layout of Sol's site is clear and simple. Free EP on the left, $9.99 album on the right. Album art is appealing. There's a link to a semi-popular rap blog (2dopeboyz.com) where an individual song from the EP can be downloaded ("No Sleep" featuring the King of Ballard, Grynch), and a widget next to it where the whole album can be streamed. What more could you, the consumer, want?
Maybe a few links to reviews in the press? Maybe. But not necessarily. Sol's pretty much got it all covered.
The site is a business model for using free product to raise awareness. Music and design advertises for music, which in turn advertises for a concert or a t-shirt or buyable recordings. It's a local, national, international thing. The free release (EP/album/compilation/single/maxi-single) system is here to stay.
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