‘Twas the Friday before Christmas, and all over the Internet, holiday music downloads were available – FOR FREE! K-LOVE and Air1 Christian radio stations are offering CCM rocker Jeremy Camp‘s rendition of “Joy to the World” on their respective sites today, and Today’s Christian Woman is giving out free “joy” too–on their site, it’s worship leader Lincoln Brewster‘s version:
Lincoln Brewster’s “Joy to the World” on the Today’s Christian Woman blog: http://bit.ly/UdgDWs
Jeremy Camp’s “Joy to the World” on K-LOVE Radio: http://www.klove.com/music/store.aspx
Jeremy Camp’s “Joy to the World” on Air1 Radio: http://www.air1.com/music/free-songs.aspx
I remember the days of Napster, Kazaa, and p2p music sharing. We’ve come a long way since then-after numerous people were thrown in the clink or fined significantly by the RIAA for abusing freebie privileges. Though iTunes, Amazon music, and Spotify have attempted to legalize digital music sharing and curb losses, profits have dropped significantly for artists everywhere, and some music artists have surrendered to the free music frenzy by offering free album downloads on sites like Noisetrade (Ben Rector‘s Christmas EP, Jingles and Bells, is a definite highlight -download it at this link: http://noisetrade.com/benrectorxmas).
Most artists are attempting to make up for their losses with merchandise and live performance revenue. Or, if you’re as charismatic and creative as South Korean artist Psy, YouTube revenue is another channel artists reap profits from (his Gangnam Style video just hit 1 billion views on YouTube – wow). In any case, Christian music radio stations and media sites are beginning to strike deals with record labels to offer high-quality singles for limited times, like the ones featured above. These freebie offers translate back to profits for the artists featured, though gauging bottom line ROI is difficult, if not impossible. Today’s Christian Woman started offering 24-hour downloads of holiday music last month, and K-LOVE and Air1 radio select a new single to feature on their website every couple of weeks, so take advantage of the free download links above and have yourself a very merry Christmas! And, if you’re feeling generous, go ahead and buy those artists’ full albums-you won’t be disappointed!