Yet another band from my formative years is releasing their music to the wide world for free. Following on from the likes of Radiohead and the Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins front man Billy Corgan announced that their next album would be released online absolutely free without any strings attached. The album, titled Teargarden by Kaleidyscope will be released incrementally starting with the first four tracks on Halloween of 2009 and around 44 songs will be released in total.
The album will feature 44 songs, 4 of which are now being recorded. My desire is to release a song at a time beginning around Halloween of this year, with each new release coming shortly after until all 44 are out. Each song will be made available absolutely for free, to anyone anywhere. There will be no strings attached. Free will mean free, which means you won’t have to sign up for anything, give an email address, or jump through a hoop. You will be able to go and take the song or songs as you wish, as many times as you wish.
Tags: free+music, smashing+pumpkins, teargarden+by+kaleidyscope
They will be released for free AND a smaller amount for sale. That is the key here. The "free" part is the publicity. The limited edition EPs for sale are the cash in.
It may or may not be a nice gesture to offer the work "for free" (formally) but it is a commercially calculated gesture.
Absolutely, if you're just interested in the music then it's free.
If you're a collector and want the uncompressed music, album art, the song order and the liner notes well then that's the bit you pay for. Sounds like a fair trade to me.