Give music away for free!

I just finished reading this article from New Music Strategies. While I think I'm coming at it from a different angle than most readers, I thought it was quite relevant to my current music situation. You see, the author wrote it for musicians and labels who are grappling with the concept of releasing free mp3 downloads of their music. Does it return great rewards to give away the music you created? Yes! But, as the author points out, you aren't giving away your music, you're giving away recordings of your music. And what reward does that bring? New listeners and fans to buy your full album and purchase concert tickets. His idea that musicians don't make money on their music but they profit because of their music, makes perfect sense. Reading some of the comments enlightened me even more to the music industry as one commenter pointed out that by offering his/her music for free, the requests for it to be used in DVDs and advertising came pouring in. And we all know, advertising is a great way to get new music out there (iPod commercials, anyone?).
So what does this all have to do with me? If it weren't for free mp3 downloads, I wouldn't have discovered (and eventually spent money on) some great bands in the past few months. For example: I recently downloaded some tracks from Gentleman Auction House's new holiday album Christmas In Love from Free Indie. I had never heard of the band before and decided to take a listen because I was trying my damnedest to get in the holiday spirit. I liked what I heard and went digging for more. It didn't take long for me to buy their album (thank you iTunes gift card for Christmas!) and search furiously for tour dates. Unfortunately, they seem to stick pretty close to St. Louis, but rest assured that I'd buy tickets if they ventured to the Pittsburgh area. So by posting two or three songs for free, Gentleman Auction House now has a devoted fan who will probably spend money on them*. I can almost guarantee you I wouldn't have done such in depth research of them otherwise.
Bottom line: I'm poor. And I want new music to listen to. So if for no other reason than to plump my iPod playlist, musicians should totally release free mp3s.

*Given that it's right after a payday and I have no bills to pay. Remember...it's music we can afford.