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While Rolling Stone premiered Rusko‘s “Yeah”, which is taken from his forthcoming KAPOW EP, there’s one thing they did not mention in the article: starting with the KAPOW EP, the EDM producer will be releasing everything for free. Well, to clarify, the EP will drop for free via his website on the 4th of November, with an iTunes release on November 6th. Rusko released the following statement regarding his decision to give it all away:
The natural thing for me to do is release “KAPOW” myself. How I want. The way I want and at the speed I want. It’s about promotion and not profit – I want to give the fans the music in real time. If they can help me promote it too then it’s essentially what a label does anyway but just without copyright restrictions. The fans are key in the success of “KAPOW.” If you like it, send it to a friend. I just want everyone to be able have my music if they want it.
It’s a pretty smart, 2012 way of thinking, especially for an EDM torchbearer who’s released an album with Cypress Hill and was signed to Mad Decent… although if you remember, Rusko did have a major dust-up with Mad Decent over the streaming of Songs causing that album to be leaked in full earlier this year. He went in on the label via twitter, and let his contract with the house that Diplo built run its course back in March. Not saying that that’s the sole reason for his decision and outlook for the future of his career, but one has to wonder if Rusko would be controlling his musical future had Songs not leaked in that fashion.
US fans of Rusko can catch him on his North American tour, which starts on the 26th of October in Chicago. You can also check out one of KAPOW‘s tracks, “Like This,” below:
