Great Music on Amie Street for less than $4

KennyKenny
edited October 2009 in General
The most popular albums go up in price pretty quickly nowadays, so I thought I'd share the best of what's on Amie Street for less than four dollars.

Everything on Amble Down Records is FANTASTIC. These are the people who manage Bon Iver. Justin Vernon mastered a few of these and played on a few of these. I love every album on this label. I've never loved an entire label's roster before. This is the best of what's happening in modern alt-folk. Get them now:

The Daredevil Christopher Wright

The Cloud Hymn

Cranes & Crows

Meridene

The Wars of 1812

The Gentle Guest

More to love:

Canon Canyon - Garage rock from Tacoma, WA.

Vigilantes of Love - How do you argue with Bill Mallonee?

Hey Marseilles - Seattle's best band about to break out. Orchestral and glorious indie pop.

The Lonely Forest - Seattle's other up-and-coming band. That guy from Death Cab is a big fan.

Dawes - Americana so beautiful it's listed on Amie Street three different times. This one is the cheapest (for now). They were just signed to ATO Records.

Patty Griffin - A modern folk legend! Her live album is still under $4 and the rest of her catalog is still pretty cheap too.

Peter Bradley Adams - Brand new album from former eastmountainsouth leading man. Movie soundtrack folk/Americana.

Wildbirds and Peacedrums - This is one of my favorite albums of the year. They do more with vocals and drums (and, often, nothing else) than I knew possible.

That should get you started.



PS. Do y'all know anything else I should be listening to that is still cheap on Amie Street? I'm a sucker for beautiful alt-folk and some indie pop/rock. I love Bon Iver, the Mountain Goats, the Avett Brothers, Over the Rhine, and Sufjan Stevens.
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Comments

  • ludditeluddite
    >>>>>>
    I'll teach you how to add credit for 50% off (without waiting for the next sale).
    >>>>>>

    I'd very much like to learn this if you're willing to share it with a wider audience.
  • amclark2amclark2
    edited October 2009
    Free blues comp - "Copulatin' Blues"

    edit: no longer free.
  • amclark2amclark2
    (i'd like to learn that 1/2 off trick too)
  • amclark2amclark2
    'nother one - Those Dirty Blues
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    Just Google:

    "Amie Street" and "50% off". You'll get a whole page of links to various blogs and music sites. Apparently some of the links on those pages will activate the discount even if the link is several months old.

    It happened to me a while back, where I was offered a "Happy Holidays" sale, except it wasn't anytime near a holiday. I figured out what happened later, as no one else I knew was offered the sale at the same time.
  • BigD-BluezBigD-Bluez
    As of the moment on Amie at $2 something there is an album by Sofia Talvik, Swedish singer/songwriter folky/pop type, that was sufficiently likable for me to check and find an earlier work, Blue Moon by Sofia Talvik and the Tallboys over at the other place, which I have not sampled yet but I am definitely intrigued by her.
  • cafreemacafreema
    New Alela Diane EP just popped up and is still free: Link.

    Craig
  • jonahpwlljonahpwll
    edited October 2009
    Odiorne - "Heavy Wish"

    http://amiestreet.com/music/odiorne/heavy-wish/

    By former and current members of Mercury Rev. Similar to their sound on "Boces". Just a few coins over two bucks.
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    Craig

    I see you and I both got it free and RECed every track. Cha-CHING, cha-CHING!
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    It will be interesting to see if Sony drops the price on some more of its albums on Amie Street.

    One of nice things about Amie's layout is you can see how many people previewed the tracks. All of the $4.99 albums have 50 or more previews for the tracks, while the $9.99 albums almost all have no previews.

    If this translates to sales, Sony has got to take notice. Maybe they'll get a clue and realize that a hundred sales at a $4.99 price point are infinitely more profitable than zero at $9.99 (that is if they're not actually losing money per unit)
  • cafreemacafreema
    Cha-CHING, indeed! You did a better job actually writing something about a couple of songs, though. I particularly enjoy your review of "Rake."

    Unfortunately, I have yet to hear the album as I get an error every time I try and download. Sent an email to tech support so hopefully I'll hear back shortly.

    As for the Sony thing, how would they be losing per unit? They have no materials costs so the only real costs would be Amie Street and royalties to the artists, and I'm assuming those are simply a percentage. That said, I'd be shocked if Sony realizes that $9.99 is a ridiculous price point for an mp3. They're still living in an iTunes world.

    Craig
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    I don't think they are losing money even at a $4.99 price point

    (that was meant as a general statement, i.e., if you lose money per unit, more sales doesn't translate to more profit. Companies occasionally do sell products as a loss to gain market share.)

    The thing about Amie street is that they are getting a side by side comparison of the effects of product pricing in very direct way on a real time basis, as opposed to eMu where they get quarterly statements. They'll notice. Whether they actually do the smart thing and cut their prices, is another matter entirely.

    I've only listened to the first song on the Alela Diane EP, the rest of it stall outs. I haven't tried to download it yet. I usually buy stuff and then download anything I've bought once a week.
  • KennyKenny
    edited October 2009
    I've bought about 5 Sony albums at full price and will continue to do so. Since I only add credit when it's on sale, even a $10 album costs me less than three real dollars. Plus, I love that Amie Street is getting brand new Sony releases. I thought I'd be paying full price for the new Brandi Carlile album, so I was really pleased when it showed up on Amie Street.

    I do agree that $9.99 is a bit high for the MSRP for mp3.
  • cafreemacafreema
    Amie Street tells me it has fixed the Alela Diane error, and credited me with a couple of extra bucks for the delay in getting it fixed.

    Ah, customer service.

    Craig
  • KennyKenny
    @frogkopf

    Did you get any of your RECs in when the tracks were free?
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    I've gotten some in when free. Unfortunately, now have a slow 1MB connection at home which makes it almost impossible to get albums for free before the price goes up. I'm guessing people with fast connections are snagging them now.

    I will say that a lot for a lot of the albums I buy now even for a few bucks, throwing 4-5 recs on them usually makes me enough credit that the albums end up being effectively free.
  • cafreemacafreema
    frogkopf - Based on when I got notifications of the RECs you've been dropping today, it looks like you're going to do very well.

    I was late today and have only downloaded one $3 album (People Under the Stairs) and dropped a few RECs on it to defray the costs. I also tried to get the Owen album when it was free, but kept getting an error. Ah well.

    Couple others I'd have liked (The Heavy in particular), but not at the prices I got to them at.

    Craig
  • KennyKenny
    @frogkopf

    I meant to say: I saw that you REC'd a lot of music last night. Did you get any of them in while the tracks were free?
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    Just the Datarock single. Everything else I got at about 20 cents. Last week I failed to do so, and saw all the albums I thought about RECing go up to 98 cents a track.

    Their new layout sucks because it takes forever to load on a slower connection.
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    edited October 2009
    Here's one worth checking out - Redivivus by Glass America . Good instrumental post-Rock in the vein of Stars of the Lid or Explosions in the Sky.

    It is only 88 cents for the album as of posting.
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    edited October 2009
    .
  • KennyKenny
    I still use the beta site (I agree the new site is a bit clunky). But for new release Tuesdays, I use both, because the buggy new releases (Mountain Goats last week, Thao this week) aren't posted on the beta until too late.

    I got Thao REC'd while it was still free--an album I was highly anticipating but didn't know Amie Street would have until yesterday, yet am now going to make about $10 in credit for RECing. I love Amie Street.
  • cafreemacafreema
    The new Neon Indian just arrived, but it did so at $0.30 a track, so it started at $3.60.

    Snagged it anyway.

    Craig
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    Same here, I snagged it at 32 cents. It will go up to full price, so I RECed the whole album, figuring it will more or less pay for itself.
  • cafreemacafreema
    I'm down to only about 20 RECs so I decided to hold off for some free stuff down the line.

    Listening to the album now. Good stuff.

    Craig
  • KennyKenny
    It may be awhile before it gets to full price, since it wasn't released with the rest of the new releases. It's already missed the window when the majority of downloading seems to happen on Amie Street. But maybe it's a popular enough release that that won't matter.
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    It got featured on Pitchfork as one of the best new albums with a rating of 8.6.

    I'm guessing we'll see it featured on Amie's main page in the next few days - it will max out.
  • KennyKenny
    edited October 2009
    Wavves was also a Pitchfork best new album, but it never maxxed out. In fact, Wavves has had little but backlash to thank them for. P4K isn't as magic as it used to be.


    (This is a friendly discussion, right? I, in fact, hope you're right and make money off the RECs.)
  • cafreemacafreema
    frogkopf - Thanks for the recommendation on Glass America. Really good stuff.

    Daytripper - I think Wavvves has his drug fueled freak out in Spain to thank for most of the backlash.

    Craig
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    Sure thing. I'm listening to it myself right now.

    I think Wavves hasn't maxed out due to the fact that they didn't cap the album at $9.99. A lot of people are resistant to paying more than $10 an album, even if they get cut price credits, especially since at least 3 other services have it for less than $9.
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