Philip Sheppard From the Road

Here’s a free Easter gift for the first 100 of you who click this link. It’s a free mp3 of a piece I wrote called Penitential Psalm – hear it here:[Audio http://radiomovies.wordpress.com/files/2009/04/02-penitential-psalm.mp3]

As I’ve mentioned many times in previous posts I’m a great believer in mp3s being legally free to download where the artist/writer/publisher can give their consent, particularly where the recording is of an event for which concert/theatre/film-goers have already paid an admission charge.

This secondary exploitation is often exploited in the true sense of the word with charges being levied for something which has technically never left the digital domain.

I think a rebroadcasting of material can be free in many cases without exploitation, and can act as a way of spreading the word about a great performer, group or writer. I love it when authors upload some of their books as free pdfs in the fairly certain knowledge that (if the material is great) people will go and buy physical copies of their other work. In the case of performers, it’s a great way of getting people to come to gigs.

Here are a couple of great sites for interesting classical mp3s – all free:

The European archive of classical recordings has over 8oo pages of LPs in mp3 format on its site as free downloads. These are extraordinary recordings featuring some of the world’s most historic performers.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has a really high quality concert series which it condenses into a regular podcast. The whole concert series is archived, and it shows great foresight on the part of the performers and the museum itself to make this available to anyone.

This week’s events/broadcasts:

David Starkey’s Henry Mind of a Tyrant is on this Easter on Channel 4 in the UK.

11th April: 7pm – Channel 4. Episode 1 Prince

13th April: 9pm – Channel 4. Episode 2 Warrior

You can hear my soundtrack for the series here for free, and a free Henry VIII download here!

Hope you have a happy and peaceful Easter.