Dilly Dilly, Art and the Intent of Free Music

Free stuff! Even better, free music!

Portland's lady of the ukulele, Dilly Dilly, has a new album and it can be yours for free...or for a price of your choosing.

Some of you may know her from Cerberus Shoal, her touring with Sage Francis or more recently her team-ups with Sontiago.

Her newest effort, "Of Art and Intention," was officially released online on Sunday and already has more than 400 downloads. The hope, she says, is to work up enough cash and support for an physical album release in the near future.

Following up on her 2006 EP, "Akidleadivy," Dilly Dilly (AKA, Erin Davidson) said she went back into the studio in ernest last summer. Produced by Alias and mixed at Acadia Recording Company, the album contains 11 songs, some of which are off "Akidleadivy." 

"I've been striving and struggling in the music world for seventeen of my thirty one years and I decided to take matters into my own hands. I mean...If it worked for Radiohead it could potentially work for me too," she said.

That's definitely a possibility. In recent years as the fever over online file sharing (or "music stealing" if you're one of those people.) has lead to the disintegration of the music industry's money making machine. Bands, record executives and fans have fallen into separate camps, either for or against making music available for free online. (Actually, the RIAA tends to always be in the "pay-for-it or we sue" camp.)

But in recent years some bands and solo artists have decided to take on the fight themselves and go directly to the fans. Most artists already utilize the Interwebs as a way to interact with fans, so making the push to selling (or giving away) the music for free was not a big step.

The working theory behind free music is that if you have a loyal enough fanbase (and, let's face it, you're good), that an artist can find other ways to make money - tours, appearances, and merchandise.

You may recall both Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails offered up new albums last year online for free as well as name-your-price and special editions.

Locally it's not too difficult to find examples. Many DJs provide mixes or songs online for free as well as labels like Peapod Recordings and bands like Highway Jackson, which released "The Dirty Bar Campaign" this year, also offer up their songs for free or at call-your-price.

The big question remains, will it work? I guess that depends on what the goal is. For Dilly Dilly a win probably means a couple of things: getting enough money to pay for a pressing of the album, but also getting her music into the hands of as many people as possible.