Pretty Lights Releasing Three Free EPs in 2010

Posted on Apr 13th 2010 12:00PM by Justin Jacobs
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Just as Derek Vincent Smith of psychedelic-electro act Pretty Lights doesn't create your average dance tracks, he doesn't release his music in the average manner either. Namely, he gives it all away for free.

No pay-what-you-want, no special code necessary -- Smith wants his fans to have his music as he finishes it just by downloading it from his website. And this year, he plans to release three mini-albums of new tracks.

"When I produce a new track, I want to bring it to my live show as soon as possible," Smith tells Spinner. "What happened last year, in some cases, was that by the time I put out a record ['Passing by Behind Your Eyes' dropped last October], people had already heard a good amount of the songs live."

To keep his show "as fresh as possible," he says, Smith will forsake official album releases altogether, opting instead to post shorter EPs more often. "This new idea allows me to release music that people haven't heard live and immediately bring it to my live show," he says.

Since Smith doesn't make any money from record sales, that live show has got to get people talking. Combining his shape-shifting dance beats with live drums and, true to his name, a mind-melting light show, Smith's live set has been gaining momentum for the past few years, including late-night sets at Bonnaroo and Rothbury and stops at SXSW and Coachella.

Still, Smith doesn't think that giving away music could necessarily work for every artist -- he was just lucky enough to do it early.

"I feel like what I'm doing is going to have its part in the transformation of the music industry," he says. "The whole music industry is on shaky ground. I'm just another person trying to find my footing."

Smith's latest EP, 'Making Up a Changing Mind,' was posted for free download last month. His next release is set for June 15.

"I'm trying to fuse my recording and touring cycles into one, working on records during the day and touring at night " he says, "so, I'm making [the next EP] right now."