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Sharing Secrets

A bewitching Wilmington, Del., singer named Bullette spent three years of "languid and bittersweet study" recording her debut album, The Secrets. Then she gave all the music away.

Bullette made Mp3s of each new song available for free download on her web site, then sent notes to a group of influential MP3 bloggers.

What sort of strategy is this? A winner.

"I'm not the sort to download a full album and give it three consecutive listens at 2:30 a.m. on a weeknight, but that's exactly what happened next," wrote The Mystical Beast. The Beast concluded Bullette had created "the most original and intriguing album of 2005," an eccletic work from an outsider artist influenced by Nancy Sinatra, Marc Bolan, Alex Chilton and Loretta Lynn. Beast raved about "the dropped beats, stream-of-consciousness melodies, unselfconscious lyrics, and ultra-creative-on-a-shoestring-budget arrangements."

David Gutowski, an ex-Philadelphian who writes the Largehearted Boy mp3 blog, was similarly stunned. In an email, he wrote, "Unlike most unsolicited, unsigned artists who have sent me their work, hers is simply amazing."

The singer, whose full name is Monika Bullette and has played in a number of local bands, has posted the notices of adulation on her website, where all of the music can be found - for now. Those wanting hard copies of the music can send her $10. Why pay when it can come for free? To support her. And to receive in the mail what Uncommon Folk called one of her "stunningly designed triple velum covers with a hand painted liner note sheet."

"Possibly my favorite album of 2005 so far," wrote the British blogger Simon at  Spoilt Victorian Child, who went cuckoo over Bullette's "Little Bird" song.  "Now you know me ...a bit of a miserable bugger most of the time, but I swear this track never fails to raise a big smile, and the whistling towards the end is just wonderful."

The track I'm listening to most? The Stereolabesque "We Are Not From Sugar.

By email, Monika Bullette explained her thinking:

Jason
Posted 06/17/2005 07:33:25 AM
That's cool.  I'm downloading it now.  The thing about music and me, if I love an album but haven't paid for it, you better believe the artist will be getting money from me in some way.  The same way I donate to Open Source software projects like "FileZilla" or a few others that I use at  www.sourceforge.net

I had 2 of Sublime's albums for free during college ("40oz to Freedom" and "Robbin' tha Hood") and when I got a job during the summer, I bought them even though I had a CD-R and all their albums in MP3.  I listened to all of them for about 2 years before needing a break :)  It really PO'd my girlfriend at the time.
Undertoad
Posted 06/17/2005 10:51:28 AM
itsaboutmusic.com lets you download zip files of 8 different samplers of the best of the catalog, and they are rights-management-free mp3s of top-notch indie artists.

(Disclaimer #1: I own a piece of the action there.  Of course, there isn't much money in a piece of FREE.)

Jason
Posted 06/17/2005 11:32:40 AM
I'm usually not one for straying off the main stream (for unknown reasons), but lately I'll be watching a previously unknown-to-me movie on IFC, and the music will just be incredible.  "Cherish" is one of the more recent ones.  Good movie but even better music, most notably "Noe Venable".

http://www.noevenable.com
Matt
Posted 06/17/2005 11:57:26 AM
sounds great -- thanks for the heads-up.
JD
Posted 06/17/2005 12:11:40 PM
smart marketing - plain and simple!  Digital distribution and fan involved promotion is the wave that can bring "unknowns" notoriety and hopefully earn enough cash to keep producing good music.
david
Posted 06/18/2005 11:50:49 PM
It's more than a smart marketing plan, Monika Bullette has enough talent to keep the door open once she has gotten in the door (of bloggers, at least). 

I get several unsigned artists' discs a week with slicker presentations (and some are even allowing downloading as well), but none has had the musical range or talent that Bullette showed me.
Jason
Posted 06/19/2005 02:20:35 AM
I like it.  It won't dethrone Cracker, though, at least not yet.  I did really like that Little Bird song, and Show Me.  Lemonade's got a bit of "One in Five" by The Doors in it, and Uneasy was totally unexpected, but good.

(posted on my new Mac :D )