Pretty Lights Debuts Single w/Talib Kweli, Announces First Physical Release & BitTorrent Promo

On Sunday EDM artist and hip hop producer Pretty Lights performed at Coachella and introduced his new single featuring Talib Kweli off his upcoming album "A Color Map Of The Sun." He also dropped the video on YouTube and announced that he was putting out his first physical release after numerous digital-only releases. In addition, today BitTorrent announces their second free promotional bundle from Pretty Lights.

Pretty Lights is doing all sorts of new things at the moment. Sunday at Coachella he debuted "Around The Block" featuring Talib Kweli, the first single off his upcoming album "A Color Map Of The Sun" due July 2nd.

The song is available for free download at prettylightsmusic.com and he also dropped the video on YouTube:

Pretty Lights – "Around The Block" feat. Talib Kweli

In addition, he shared a documentary trailer about what's he doing differently with this new album. You can see the video below but, basically, instead of digging through crates for vinyl resulting in hundreds of sample, Pretty Lights went into the studio with a bunch of excellent musicians and said he "created his own crate of vinyl."

I guess switching up his game also led to introducing physical releases. In the past, Pretty Lights has released music digitally for free on his website and for sale at various outlets.

With "A Color Map Of The Sun", he's releasing his first physical album. He's also offering a bunch of other physical product in bundles available for preorder through Topspin.

Here's what he says on his site where you can also peruse the physical products on offer:

"This is the first time I am releasing an album as a physical product at the same time as a digital version. I have double disc CDs and full length vinyl records available with amazing hard cover book packaging that looks stunning and contains a 28 page photo booklet documenting much of the making of the album. The second disc of the double CD set contains 13 additional tracks straight off the vinyl acetates that I composed and created in order to make legit sounding samples for A Color Map of The Sun."

"Like always, the album will be available in its entirety as a free download on the album's release date via prettylightsmusic.com. For the first time however, I encourage you to purchase a copy of the album. There are two honest reasons for this. The main reason is that as an artist I have always reinvested any success I have directly back into the music, the show and the art that goes along with it."

"Secondly, this isn't just an album; it is a massive collection of music beyond what is on the CDs that I will continue to put out after the album release. There is an insightful documentary film on the making of this project to be released alongside the launch of the album, as well as a music video for every song. They are all beautiful and uniquely unusual pieces of art."

"This 'album' is a multi-medium map of my mind and my self. It is personal and honest and I put everything into it. I have stayed on the path of being a completely independent musician and with the help of every supporter and friend, we have transformed a simple idea into a movement, a cultural beacon of light."

"If you can, I encourage you to purchase a digital or physical copy of A Color Map of the Sun. If not simply support by sharing the music and sharing the idea. If there is any success to be had from this album, it will go back into my rule bending, never ending quest to channel beauty and taste through music and art."

"Either way, I made this music for everyone. Support this release and let's show the world how we do. The time is now. – Derek Vincent Smith"

Documentary Trailer: The Making of "A Color Map of the Sun"

As if that weren't enough, today BitTorrent is announcing via their blog that they are releasing a Pretty Lights promotional bundle that will offer album art and two new singles including "Around The Block."

Pretty Lights previously had great success with a BitTorrent promotion that he engineered with Fame House as part of a larger campaign of freebies.

BitTorrent is also announcing the Beta release of BitTorrent Surf, a web client previously available only as a Chrome extension that is now available for Firefox.

BitTorrent Surf includes a recommendation engine that will prioritize featured content such as the Pretty Lights bundle. Check their blog for additional details.

Update:

Pretty Lights Debuts New Single At Coachella – And On BitTorrent

BitTorrent Surf Beta Launches Today On Chrome And Firefox

More:

• An In-Depth Case Study on the Pretty Lights + BitTorrent Partnership
• BitTorrent's Matt Mason On Promoting Artists From Pretty Lights To Counting Crows
• DJ Shadow Releases First Ever Monetized BitTorrent Bundle

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch/@crowdfundingm) also blogs at All World Dance: Videos and maintains Music Biz Blogs. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.