In thinking more about the reason for the writing, just recommending a few bands doesn’t seem too productive, like giving someone a fish instead of learning how to fish. Not that I like fish, but you get the idea.

#1 is a blog: 3hive is a great source for introductions to new bands. In addition to get 2 or 3 promo tracks, some background on the band along with a hazy hipster photo is most helpful.

#2 is an e-store: The list of free MP3s on Amazon is outstanding… now. The reason is that a bunch of labels have started to put samplers up on the site to get customers to try a selection of music from bands they represent. The annoying part of this deal for Canadians is that we’re blocked off from downloading stuff. Getting around this roadblock is certainly do-able if you use a proxy program like Hotspot Shield. Amazon will think you’re surfing from the U.S.!

#3 is a label: The label with the best selection of free songs is very subjective depending on your taste in music, but Barsuk‘s site is quite good. Artists on Barsuk include Mates of State, Jim Noir, John Vanderslice, and Viva Voce.

–Rich

Free tracks have been an important way of getting exposed to new artists – and I’ll spotlight new goldmines going forward in an effort to make things easier for everyone to hear new stuff while helping artists to get people in the habit of paying something for their media consumption habits! (Yes, I did pay $25 a long time ago to buy Howard Jones’ CD Dream Into Action).

So, I’ll highlight 3 sources a week for the next while and post comments if you have suggestions of your own!

#1) Urban Outfitters: – A surprisingly good choice of tracks, plus they are on volume 7 right now. There’s a free code for iTunes here that’s good until the end of January, 2010, and for volumes 6 and before, you can access the mp3s directly by appending /mp3 to the end of the URL (e.g. http://lstn.urbanoutfitters.com/6/mp3/).

#2) Daytrotter: The best location for in-studio performances? It has to be Daytrotter, which has featured lots of indie bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, Blitzen Trapper, and the National. Upcoming bands that are playing live in Toronto in a few weeks that have tracks on Daytrotter include Mew and A.A. Bondy!

#3) Largehearted Boy: My favourite MP3 blog has to be Largehearted Boy. It not only features free MP3s of the day, but new releases, news tidbits, and even book reviews. No blog I know of keeps on top of the latest news as well as this.

–Rich