How to Score a Ton of Free Music Without Requiring an Eyepatch

Disclaimer: The Penny Jar is an eMusic affiliate and receives a small commission every time somebody clicks a link like the one below and signs up for an account (at least until they discover this article and give us the boot). If you do not wish to support us, by all means, type the URL yourself, enjoy the free music, and live a long and miserable life alone with your guilt and shame.

As a songwriter / performer who hopes to someday make a living doing what I love, I struggle with sharing this. It is not my intention to bite the hand that feeds (even if this particular hand is feeding artists some of the lowest royalty rates in the industry). But as an optimistic realist who’s pretty sure the days of getting rich selling copies of recorded music are coming to a screeching halt, I don’t really care. What I do care about is music. And since I am simultaneously financially challenged and morally opposed to stealing another artist’s work, I’m always on the hunt for any legal means to acquire a large library of meaningful music without breaking the bank.

I first tried eMusic in late 2008. A couple months later feeding my family beat out feeding my iPod and I quit. And that led to the discovery of a fun little loophole game that has helped me to finally own some classics alongside some brilliant music from bands I had never heard before.

And yes, I realize that writing this may backfire. Come what may, here’s how it works:

1. Sign up for a free trial with eMusic. You’ll get 25 or more free songs (depending on the promotion they happen to be running at the moment; currently 35).
2. Cancel before your 7 days are up and owe nothing, or you can go ahead and pay for a month or two (as I did) and then cancel. Do NOT simply put your account on hold. Their propaganda will tell you that canceling will cause you to lose your saved-for-later list and the ability to re-download tracks you’ve purchased. As far as I can tell (and I’ve canceled several times now) that’s simply not true.
3. Wait. This is the hard part.
4. Renew your account. In a couple of months you’ll receive an e-mail begging you to come back to eMusic. In exchange for returning to the fold, you’ll get 75 free downloads. Follow the link and sign up. Yes, you’ll have to pay something, but you’ll get 75 free songs on top of whatever your plan includes. Tip: Most albums on eMusic that have more than 12 tracks still only cost you 12 download credits, so you can get even more bang for your buck by downloading full albums. I’m on the $15-ish plan that gets me 35 songs (there are cheaper options), so for $15 and some change I get 110 songs (or more) which comes out to somewhere in the neighborhood of 14¢ / song.
5. Go back to step 2 and repeat ad infinitum.

You’d think they’d eventually stop sending the same offer, but they haven’t yet. I’ve probably re-upped 6 or 7 times now. Many of my favorite albums by artists like Switchfoot, Eels, Spoon, Johnny Cash, Sufjan Stephens, Dave Matthews Band, The Swell Season, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bon Iver, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sigur Ros, etc. were acquired this way. And since they just added over 10,000 new albums affiliated with Warner Music Group, chances are pretty good that you’ll find something you already want.

So give it a shot. While you’re at it, pick up our album (and give it a good rating if you’re feeling extra-nice). Then report back here in a couple months and let us know how it works!

–Josh

A New Year…

So, it’s a new year, a time for making and breaking new resolutions and diets. It’s also a time when bands begin to think about what they’d like to accomplish in the coming months–hoping for more than sitting around jamming in their moms’ basements like last year…

In that spirit, I thought I’d post a few of our thoughts and dreams for 2010:

1. Record and release something new. Actually, we’re already working on the beginning stages of a new record. Let The Record Slow is something I’m still very proud of, but with the transition from solo artist + friends to actual band lineup, our sound has necessarily changed some (for the better, in my humble opinion).
2. Actually use this blog. I’ll be honest, I have barely blogged because I haven’t had any idea what to write. But we’ve put our collective brain together and come up with a few ideas. Hopefully, it won’t be completely useless information all the time. The way I see it, as long as I blog more often than I break an arm, I’m doing better than ‘09. And hopefully Jo, Scott, and Dion will chime in as well.
3. Play more shows. We’ve got a good friend helping us with booking, so there should be more chances to come get your socks rocked hang out with us than ever.
4. Give away more stuff! We love our fans, and we love to give back. T-shirts and stickers are on the way, and hopefully we’ll have new music to give out sometime this summer.

So yeah, lots of plans. To keep up with us, why not join our e-mail list?  You can sign up using the form in the sidebar of our website.

Thanks for a great ‘09!

–Josh

We’re actually (gasp!) a band now

When I started putting songs together and thinking about recording last year, I really just thought it would be a fun project. I played most of the instruments myself, had a lot of fun, and got a little lonely. It’s way more fun to do music with other people. So I pulled in a few friends to contribute. Suddenly the project had a life of its own, and I could see that this was going to be more than a small project for me.

So now with the album out in all the major online retailers and live shows being played and whatnot, three of my good friends have agreed to join me as official band-mates in The Penny Jar: Brandi Jo Magee (who played violin on Nothing and Down Alone on the album), Scott Deloney (who played bass on Down Alone, formerly of The Rocketboys), and Dion Fink on drums (formerly of Nobody Famous).

The Penny Jar at Monks Coffee Shop in Abilene TX

I am beyond excited to be joined by such a talented crew of musicians!  Now it appears we have work to do:  new photo shoot, band bio to re-write, new press kit, and gigs to book.

–JC

Get our album FREE while you can

We will pull our album from NoiseTrade at the end of the week. You can get it free right now, though, by recommending the album to friends!

http://www.noisetrade.com/thepennyjar

Enjoy!

We’re on eMusic!

You can now download Let The Record Slow in full or in part from eMusic!

Now on Amazon.com!

You can now purchase our songs on Amazon.com!  50% of money spent on music from this album will still benefit World Vision regardless of how it’s purchased.

Acoustic in Abilene

Got a couple small acoustic gigs lined up in Abilene. Keep an eye on the Shows Page as more dates will be posted soon!

1. ArtWalk This Thursday (Sept. 10), 7:00 PM, at Minter Park across from The Center
2. Starbucks on Buffalo Gap Rd. on Friday, Sept. 18, 8:00 PM

Good News, Bad News

So I guess it’s been one of those days. I’ll start with the bad news:

• I got a ticket for expired state inspection
• The bone in my arm is not reattaching and healing as hoped.
• We found another random piece of bone floating around in my elbow and the doc has no idea where it came from

But there’s good news too:

• The cop only gave me warning for speeding, and didn’t ask for my proof of insurance (which I couldn’t find)
• The doc doesn’t want to do surgery, and thinks my arm will heal ok whether or not the broken piece ever reattaches. 2 more weeks in a splint, then physical therapy!
• Apparently the random bone fragment isn’t bothering anything.
• The new album hit the front page of NoiseTrade

Had its downs, but the ups win. Overall, not a terrible day!

A Disc In The Tree Is Worth…

My brother says I should make up a better story; say I pushed a kid out of the way of a train or something. But truth is that I broke my left arm Saturday practicing disc golf. It went something like this:

Disc in tree. Me in tree. Limb broken. Broken limb.

Go ahead and laugh. I know it’s funny.

Long story short, I’m in a splint for a while. If the bone sets itself as the swelling subsides, that’s all I’ll need. If it moves, there will be surgery and probably no gigs for a while. I should know more next week.

In the meantime, I’m compiling a list on Twitter of all the everyday activities that have suddenly become adventures now that I’m down to one good arm.

Here are a couple photos of the damage:

“Let The Record Slow” Is Here!

Well, the day has finally come!

After lots of hard work, the debut album from The Penny Jar has finally been released! I hope you all love it as much as I do. Please download it and spread the word to your friends on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.

As you’ll see, I’ve chosen to work with two great organizations: NoiseTrade and WorldVision. If you haven’t already, please check out both of them. NoiseTrade is a great place to find new music and support artists you love. WorldVision is one of the leading charities making a difference world wide in the fight against poverty. I would highly recommend saving a few pennies each day and considering becoming a sponsor to a child.

Special thanks to my beautiful wife and daughter for being patient with me throughout this process; to Brett Stewart, Brandi Jo Magee, Scott Deloney, and Brenton Dowdy for contributing their musical skills to the album; to Sherry Young for creating such incredible album art; to Heather Turner for her photography; to Paul Matta for listening to me and helping me get the best of out of my songs; to Leighton Lockett and Jeremy Kirles for their guidance and wisdom; and to all of you who have listened, tweeted, blipped, and otherwise encouraged me along the way.

Enjoy the music!