Recording Artist Garrin Benfield Launches New Website, Fuels an Online Revolution

The cornerstones of this new approach are access to free Live Music and Video Downloads, along with Message Boards , Fan Review pages, Street Teams, and Garrins Journal. The availability of free Live Music on the site is Benfields response to the download explosion" that started with Napster and has now spread to dozens of other copycat sites around the globe. Benfield and the band would rather see their live stuff downloaded right at home (garrin.com), than have their expensive-to-record studio tracks popping up on Kaza, one of the more popular peer-to-peer file sharing sites.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. (PRWEB) July 22, 2003 -- With the launch of www.garrin.com version 3.0, Garrin Benfield, one of Americas rapidly emerging indie recording artists is at the forefront of a revolution in the way artists present themselves online. In an attempt to connect with his growing fan base, Benfield and Web Designer Avi Smith of San Francisco sat down to figure out a way to bring the fans closer to him and closer to each other! We were adding folks from all over the world who were asking me how they could hear my concerts outside of their home towns and how they could meet other fans. I wanted to make all that happen in one place", replied Benfield when asked about his cozy new online digs. What they came up with is part fan site, part on-line community, and part home for Benfield himself.

The cornerstones of this new approach are access to free Live Music and Video Downloads, along with Message Boards , Fan Review pages, Street Teams, and Garrins Journal. The availability of free Live Music on the site is Benfields response to the download explosion" that started with Napster and has now spread to dozens of other copycat sites around the globe. Benfield and the band would rather see their live stuff downloaded right at home (garrin.com), than have their expensive-to-record studio tracks popping up on Kaza, one of the more popular peer-to-peer file sharing sites. We have great commercially released records that the label is hoping to make money from, but we also happen to have these heavily improvised live gigs on CD that people wanted to hear. Weve found that by letting people have access to these bootlegs, they burn them for friends who also dig live music, and lo and behold, their friends are now showing up at shows... and, they are buying the studio stuff too!" Garrins two studio efforts, Nowhere is Brighter (2002) and Living a Dream (2000) were released on Bay Area label, Eighth Note.

Benfield is not alone in this endeavor. Artists as varied as the Grateful Dead (who encouraged concert taping right from the get-go) and Janis Ian (who has free music on her site and has published articles on the subject) to Phish (who makes every concert available online the day after a show is performed) are trying to get music directly into the hands of their fans. Not to mention up-and-comer Joseph Arthur (who records shows on the spot for immediate distribution) and Pearl Jam for their comprehensive bootleg series. Recently, Benfield himself put together a live-recording sampler, Live in San Francisco for promotional purposes that is being handed out free to Bay Area concertgoers who he thinks might like his work.

In addition to having access to free music, Garrin Benfield fans also have access to each other and to Garrin. New folks picked up in cities like New York, Austin or even far-flung places like Knoxville, TN can now connect with old-timers in his home base of San Francisco. A special link on his site called Connect" offers fans numerous ways to reach out to one another. One button gives them instant access to Pass It On" (a form that allows people to instantly tell their friends about the site), while another invites them to submit their own reviews of Garrins shows. Regular additions to Garrins Journal allow fans a peek inside the brain of the singer himself. His weekend plans, taste in music, and even mildly personal musings end up on the site.

Benfield has built a career, and a life, out of community. Growing up in Westchester County, New York, he was the youngest of nine siblings. According to a recent San Francisco Chronicle article about him, Benfield took great delight in observing as his brothers and sisters and their pals partied and jammed on acoustic guitars." Elaborating, he says that his family members were big partiers and as a youngster he became fascinated with watching community build around a piano. He says, I can remember hours and hours of family gatherings around the piano... I learned so much about playing a room." Play a room he does. Non-stop touring around the country in hundreds of venues has earned him a reputation as an intuitive performer who can bring a smoky bar to the tabletops as well as bring acoustic-oriented listening rooms to tears. Perhaps it is this kind of intuition that has lead his fans to go to such great lengths to see him, both online and in real life. We have folks that hop on the tour on the first night and dont hop off till its all over..." With the new garrin.com, they wont have to hop off at all!

Benfields community has also gotten the attention of the media. The Bay Area press has been lauding his shows with praise for some time. The national media have been climbing on board as well. Awards and coverage in Acoustic Guitar, Performing Songwriter and Music Connection have all helped him stay on the road. In addition, showcases at the prestigious NEMO Conference and performances at the world-famous Telluride Bluegrass Festival have all added people to the crew. And its all made Benfield a happy man, To me, there is no greater joy than looking out over a crowd and knowing that you have reached somebody, and that youre going to be reached by them!"

Benfields new website can be viewed at www.garrin .com

Related link:
Garrin Benfield online: www.garrin.com

Related Article:
San Francisco Chronicle - June 26,2003 Benfield is one to Watch"
Performing Songwriter -- July/August 2003 Questions Not Answers"
Performing Songwriter - May 2002 The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View" by Janis Ian