Right now, I am listening on Jamendo and I must say that I like what I hear. You may recall that I wrote about this shortly ago, with a recommendation of Josh Woodward’s The Simple Life album. Tonight, I am listening to Robin Grey - Only the Missile. Thanks to Drew’s recommendation of Ruth Theodore’s album, Robin seems to have found this reference and left a comment, letting us know about his own effort. I am listening now and am totally entertained. The bluesy, folksy tones of his music is a great match with his voice, which ranges from soft and silky to deep and gravelly to raspy (reminds me of on of my favorite beers, Fuller’s London Pride - rich, deep, complex, smooth, with a slight edge, like that gentle uncle that would allow the kids to jump on him and play with him to exhaustion, who would defend their lives with conviction and courage). Its tagged: folk, blues, accoustic, ruth, theodore, harmonies
What if you want to listen to music somewhere besides the web site’s flash player? The answer is to listen at sites like Magnatune and Jamendo. I’ve been frequenting Jamendo more, so I will focus on it right now. The site allows you to listen to music that ha been licensed with the Creative Commons license, allowing the artist to share their art in any way that they wish. Read the license (it IS a bit legalese, but worth reading) and see why freedom might be a good thing for you.
The thing that I like about these sites is that they offer you an easy way to download the music that the artists want you to have and if you like it, you can send them some money. Unlike the model where the recording companies take all of the money for a very long time, and if the album does EXTREMELY well, the artist might see a small slice of it, most, if not all, of the money you “pay” goes to the artist. This is a much better model.
So, go listen. Create an account. Donate to the artists that you like, if you can. if you can’t donate,spread the word about what you found, so that others can.
My first recommendation is Josh Woodward - The Simple Life. This is an excellent album with good playing and excellent songwriting. It’s tagged:pop,rock,indie,accoustic,lyrical
