By: David Schultz

With record labels losing their importance in getting music into the ears of people who listen to it, artists are coming up with new and different ways to release albums. Radiohead’s much-publicized, pay-what-you-want scheme may have been a shot across the bow of the establishment and inspired some imitators but it didn’t start a free music revolution. The new scheme, at least for the summer, seems to be a one-at-a-time plan

Beck, essentially a free agent as far as record deals go, will experiment with the idea as part of his newly created Record Club. Starting with Velvet Underground and Nico, Beck will invite friends like MGMT, Devendra Banhart and Jamie Liddell, into the studio to cover a classic album in its entirety with little rehearsal. The results will be released on a weekly basis on his Web site with Beck’s cover of “Sunday Morning” kicking things off.

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico 'Sunday Morning' from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

KELLER WILLIAMS WILL ALSO BE trying out weekly allotments of new music. As the calendar counts down to the release of his ODD, Williams will release it a track at a time as part of his Once A Week Freek. In addition to the new studio material, Williams will also make available live recordings and unreleased songs currently residing in the vault. The tracks will sell for 99 cents a pop with some coming bundled with free bonus material.

Labels: Beck, Keller Williams