Free Legal Downloads: Sub Pop Records

First off, if you don't know about Sub Pop Records, where the hell have you been. The record label has been around for over 22 years. It started as a fanzine that offered mixtapes and then developed into a small label based in Seattle. It has since become one of the best and most consistent indie labels of our time.

Take a look at some of the artists Sub Pop helped launch into awesomeness. These are all bands currently or previously on the label:

• The Shins
• Nirvana
• Low
• Soundgarden
• The Postal Service
• Sunny Day Real Estate
• Mudhoney
• Sebadoh
• Patton Oswalt
• Hot Hot Heat
• Iron & Wine
• David Cross
• The Rapture
• The Thermals
• Rogue Wave
• Wolf Parade
• Band of Horses
• CSS
• Flight of the Conchords
• Go! Team
• Red House Painters
• The Reverend Horton Heat
• Sleater-Kinney

. . . Just to name a few. Seriously, there are way more.

But what's even cooler than their artist roster is their website where they offer free legal downloads of several of the aforementioned artists. It's not crap downloads either, but often it's the band's big single that they are giving away. You can also find interviews, music videos, blogs, and just a wealth of knowledge about the label and it's many great artists.

The best way to find the downloads is to just explore the artists section. Click on an artist you are interested in and it'll take you to a separate page where they will offer all sorts of tidbits, often free songs.


If you aren't familiar with some of these artists and you want to try them out blindly just go to the media section where they group available downloads together. You can just "right click/save as..." away. (Or the Mac equivalent to that).

So go explore and then come back and here and leave your comments. Let me know what you downloaded and who you like. There are so many great artists on Sub Pop, you are bound to find a new band to dig.