Scott Valentine: The Lil Wayne of Singer/Songwriters

Scott Valentine has one of the more interesting marketing approaches seen in recent memory.

If you join his mailing list (see link at the end of this article for the URL), the newsletter comes with a new song – in MP3 format – each week. He also posts a video of himself performing each song he releases both on Youtube and on his site. In an age dominated by the dollar sign, this is a refreshing approach to spreading your music around to the masses. A very cool idea to say the least.

He is another artist that I was introduced to through Brian Thompson of Thorny Bleeder Records. The other two are TV Heart Attack and Burning Borders.

I’m sure when Brian and Scott see this article they will wonder just what the hell I am talking about with the post title. For those of you who are into rap and hip-hop (especially the mixtapes), you will remember that before the release of The Carter III, Lil Wayne released a slew of mixtapes to build the hype for his albums release. It was estimated that he released about $1 million of free stuff just to release one official album.

The marketing plan worked though, as The Carter III has sold 3.2 million copies as of July 2009. Maybe Scott Valentine is onto something.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Scott Valentine has some serious talent. I think that the singer/songwriter genre is one that you either love or hate. I used to listen to it constantly and then began to broaded my musical horizons. With artists like Scott and Brett Mitchell around, it’s a genre I am getting back into quickly.

Scott organized his songs into four albums, entitled Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Upon registering for the site you can download all the songs. I have personally been listening to the Spring album a lot, since I really like the songs ‘Watch it Grow’, ‘Jukebox’, and ‘Freak in You.’ The song ‘Don’t Break My Heart’ on Autumn is also a great track.

Really you can start anywhere on any of the albums. They are all great efforts from a very promising artist. Brian had initially told me that Scott Valentine was a ‘very talented singer/songwriter.’ He wasn’t kidding. I can see him performing perfectly in a coffee house or his music playing at a Starbucks, it just has that very mellow feel to it. Whereas Brett Mitchell is a little more upbeat, this reminds me of Ben Harper’s more mellow work…which as most people know, is some pretty awesome stuff.

I’m excited to see where Scott takes this interesting free song approach in the future. Unlike Lil Wayne, however, I’m not sure that Brian will be giving Scott a briefcase with a million dollars in it for his birthday like Cash Money’s CEO did to make up for the estimated profits Lil Wayne missed out on.

To get more information on Scott Valentine and join his mailing list, visit http://scottvalentinepresents.com/

Here is the video for his song from Week 4 of the mailing list:

Scott Valentine – Jukebox

All photos, music, and videos copyright of their respective owners. Used only for promotional purposes and to gain notoriety for the artists featured.

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