Tuesday, December 19, 2006
The Secret Life of Itunes’ Free Downloadees
One of the great unsung treasures of Itunes are the free downloads from up and coming artists found on the Itunes store. Some of the music in this section is utterly fanstastic – here are some of my favorite tracks I’ve gotten from this feature:- Aslyn: Be the Girl
- Anna Nalick: Breathe
- Kasabian: Club Foot
- Ellie Lawson: Gotta Get Up From Here
- Lokua Kanza: Mboka
- Polly Paulusma: She Moves in Secret Ways
- Flipsyde: Someday
- Bonnie McKee: Trouble
I went to go and find out about two of these artists the other day to see if I could get more of their music. What I found surprised and could definitely be turned into thirty-minute renditions of VH1’s Behind the Music.
Bonnie McKee was on the cusp of stardom. A teenage runaway who grew up in the club scene, she had hard-hitting lyrics and the kind of street-wise and growling performance of a pop Bonnie Raitt. She had appeared as Janis Joplin on American Dreams, and one fo her songs was featured in the 2004 film Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, garnering enough notice to cause her album to be released ahead of its (previously delayed) schedule.
Despite having been signed for several million dollars with Warner, Bonnie abandoned them to work with “Doc” McGhee, the manager behind KISS, Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe. McGhee’s career had come to a crashing halt after being "arrested on a charge of assisting to smuggle 40,000 lbs of marijuana into North Carolina from Colombia in 1982". Now, Bonnie’s career has completely foundered, more’s the pity.
Ellie Lawson had a record made. Produced, recorded, boxed, and ready to go. She’d even been out of the promotional tour, and had performed nation-wide on Ellen. And then the studio decided she didn’t have it. Ellen, being the generous person is, pushed for the studio to release it, and even though they didn’t budge, they did allow Barnes and Noble to sell it exclusively from their site. I’d recommend it heartily to anyone that likes good and catchy pop riffs, a la Natasha Bedingfield but with a more acoustic feel.
Here’s to both of them, and all the other struggling artists out there. And a hearty thank you to Apple for trying to bring them to our attention.
------------------------------------------------