Give me Another "Hit"!

Give me Another "Hit"!

I love building playlist. Or rather, I love letting iTunes build playlist for me. The Genius button is awesome! Especially because, well, I hate to admit this, but I suppose there's nothing to be done. I own music I've never heard. *Hides face in shame* I know, I know! Why do I have it if I've never heard it? In my defense, anytime I'm offered free music by labels or through special promotions, I take it. I don't care if it's a band that never managed to make it out of the garage, or a genre I don't really care for, I'll take it. Proof yet again that I'm a music junkie. There's never enough music, I can fit more on my hard drive, sure Mr. music promoter, I'll listen to the band you're pushing. I always need another "hit". I rationalize this by saying, "You never know where you're new favorite song will come from!" It can lead to some funny moments like, for example, I decided I wanted that Hellogoodbye song "Here (in your arms)" because the video amused me. As I went to purchase it, iTunes had to tell me that I already had it. It had been apart of a promotion that they'd had some time before where they gave out free music through facebook. (Free on iTunes group) At first music like this would just sit on in my hard drive collecting virtual dust unless it would randomly come up in an accidental shuffle or random search. Then one day, iTunes came out with a new update. The shiny new button called to me and I decided to check it out. I turned on my genius option, knowing full well that it's true purpose was to find new ways to sell me music and really, I didn't need help in that area. I let iTunes gather information about what music I owned with a little unease because well, it's a little unnerving how much information can be gained in that process, but I let it happen. The results were awesome! I clicked on a song and then took the mouse cursor down to that right hand corner and pressed that little atom symbol. Voila! Instant playlist! With these playlist I began to discover new music... that I already owned... but never heard... um... yeah... anyway! One playlist would bring out a few songs I hadn't heard and at least one of them would be a song that I'd particularly love. I would then use that song to build yet another playlist. And so, a cycle would begin.

Other places I have found free LEGAL music are on Amazon and RCRD LBL. It's mostly all Indie Label stuff and extremely random, but that doesn't mean bad (and if you ask a few people that means something likely to be very good). One group that I found on RCRD LBL is The Like. They are a very fun band with a fantastic 60's Mod style of music and presentation. Not only are they talented, but they also use a Hammond B3 Organ! (I don't know about you but I find that awesome!) Their song "He's Not a Boy" is a fun song that leads you to bounce to the beat and "Release Me" (also the same name as the album) reminds me of those fantastic songs from the great 60's female groups but does so without sounding dated. According to their MySpace page they are going to be touring around the globe but spending some time in the UK, so if you're out that way, I recommend catching them if you can.