One of my favorite artists is Derek Webb. I was introduced to Derek’s solo work by my good friend Casey who sent me an invite to download his last album Mockingbird. At the time Derek provided his album as a free download if you sent out an email to 3 of your friends to invite them to do the same. I thought it was a great concept in that it helped spread his music through social connections. 

So it turns out that Derek has now created NoiseTrade which repeats his previous model of the free download. This time however he’s extended the invite to include the option of paying what you want for an album instead of emailing 3 of your friends. He also is featuring several albums by fellow artists, one of which is his wife Sandra McCracken. 

I love seeing more artists subscribe to this model of distribution, from mainstream artists like Radiohead and Trent Reznor to smaller, independents like Derek Webb. As a fan of some of these bands, I truly feel like I’m a contributor to their efforts either by paying what I feel the album is worth and knowing that money is going to them and not some massive record label or in helping to increase their fan base by spreading their music to my friends. This is especially true in the case of Derek Webb, who’s music contains some of the best lyrics in music today and that this world desperately needs to hear.