South-by-South-West, the back-patting tech conference masquerading as a music festival, is currently wrapping up in Austin, Texas. In among the press conferences, there’s been time for some actual bands to play — and for those of us unable to be there in person, the festival has released 8.42 gigabytes of DRM-free MP3s for your listening pleasure.
This is a long-running SXSW tradition (apart from last year, where they released music on Soundcloud instead, and pissed off a bunch of harddrive-music-hoarding hipsters). As TorrentFreak points out, the easiest way to get the music in one lump is through torrents. The tracks have been painstakingly compiled and uploaded, ready for you to download from your peers.
In this Spotify-filled day and age, stocking up on MP3s might not have quite the thrill it used to. But as a fun way to discover a whole lotta new music — and without paying a cent for it — it’s undeniably efficient. [SXSW Torrents via TorrentFreak]