Oh, 2010! It feels good to be in a new decade and more than anything else I’m happy to be in the midst of this music industry transition.
Artists embracing new media outlets to distribute music is always a good thing for fans and this year you’ll see that the FreEP (free EP) will become the “it” thing to do.
Sure, it’s essentially a mixtape, but what an EP allows an artist to do is put out a taste of free music that isn’t just a freestyle over the hottest instrumental but actually new and original music content.
Since the ball dropped on 2010, a few artists have already kicked out FreEP’s.
Mickey Factz, among others, dropped a FreEP, thedarkphoenix: ALPHA, to lead up to his long awaited album. Mixtape fans don’t fret, those track-heavy, hour-long, hit-or-miss musical journey’s you know and love aren’t going anywhere. Just don’t be surprised if you start to see five- to eight-song EPs from your favorite artist, instead of the 20+ track monster with remixes of every recognizable beat from the radio.
In the end what would you rather have? The FreEP is the future (well now) and less is more.
This article appears in Dec 29, 2009 – Jan 4, 2010.
