the age of free package-free music?

well i think it's coming.

i went to a last gang records show last week and asked if EPs were for sale and the fella behind the table said "Nope, but these are free," pointing to cds and lps with six tracks compiled by last gang. Not a joke - free. brilliant! because we all know people are going to rip anyways, why not throw your logo all over the packaging and give it away? Recipients will end up sharing while singing the praises of a record company that freely distributes their artists' goods - in this spirit, here is my new music game mantra: give the people what they want.

now the question becomes how? are cds finally going out of style? are digital downloads the future of your cumbersome cd collection? no disc, no case, no slipcover with track list - you might get a lil' ol USB stick instead or just a link if we're really lucky...

Girl Talk is a DJ who is doing something very interesting with his new album Feed the Animals (aside from the fact that his music is atypical to say the least - he's taken the simple sample to the nth degree... but i admit it my head was bopping in places.) You'll find that the link from his myspace page leads to a page where you decide and manually enter what you are going to pay. there's somewhat of a sliding scale in that you get more for paying a little more but basically you are free to enter '0' and pay nothing as long as you tell why (there's quite a list of possible responses) and you never had to leave your desk or remove that hinky wrapping that infuriate cd-consumers.

Check out his label Illegal Art.