The freebie bonanza rose to a new height last month. Not only many artists gave away their brand new tracks; but also DJ compiled mixtapes; label sponsored series of free MP3’s; podcasts; etc.

In the mixtape department Kanye West ‘s official beatmaster A-TRAK offered the second installment of his acclaimed ‘Dirty South Dance’. This time the mix was somehow less eclectic and more US rap based, but still an excellent work that can be obtained for nothing.

Teen heartthrob and rapper T.I. celebrated that his trouble with the law has gone with his brand new ‘Fuck A Mixtape’, anticipating both his new album ‘King Uncaged’ and his acting debut ‘Takers’.

In the US, one of the most promising new MC’s, PILL, keeps on offering his output through an acclaimed series of mixtapes that are helping to rise his profile until his debut finally materializes. The lates one ‘1140: The Overdose’ was launched last week.

The Caribbean project of DJ/producers Diplo & Switch, MAJOR LAZER, put their hands back to work compiling a mixtape for British electro-popstars LA ROUX, currently celebrating their track ‘Bulletproof’ breaking into the US mainstream charts. The ‘Lazerproof’ mixtape blends some of the moments from the Brit duo’s debut with DJs from the Diplo’s stable Mad Decent and features collaborations by some of the newest stars in the rap and dancehall field such as Drake, Gucci Mane or Gyptian.

Among the DJ mixes available for everyone to enjoy. US hipster NICK CATCHDUBS compiled the trendiest sounds for the summer on his ‘Pink Lemonade Mix’; across the Atlantic Jamie from the XX prepared a chiller and more atmospheric mix for Collette; whereas British music Tabloid NME put together some tracks from up and coming talent in the third offering of their ‘Radar Mixtape’.

Many global brands are increasingly using music for their marketing strategies. Levi’s has just began a free mp3 download series in which indie artists such as The Shins; She & Him; etc. cover some of their favorite artists. The series began with Dirty Projectors’ cover of Dylan’s ‘I dreamed I saw St. Augustine’.

The Bleep website has teamed up with Sonar Festival, offering a couple of mp3s of participating artists -Fuck Buttons; Broadcast; etc.- per week as a way to warm up until the festival takes place in Barcelona –and also in La Coruña from this year onwards- on the 17th of June.

Last but not least, the US cartoon channel for grown-ups Adult Swim, began a series of 8 singles to be downloaded one per week from their website. Cutting edge artists such as Madvillain; Washed Out; etc have already offered their contribution.

Elsewhere, The Fader in association with Nike has curated 6 different mixtapes, each one dedicated to a different continent as a way to kickstart the arrival of the World Football Championship. Canyons; Sinden and Maga Bo are the DJs behind some of them.

In Spain Heineken was behind the celebrations of the recently held ‘Day Of The Music’, with a number of gigs by local and European bands taking place. Each one of them gave away a new track to a compilation to mark the occasion. Nacho Vegas; Christina Rosenvinge & Bejamin Biolay and Sr. Chinarro were among the participating artists. The ‘Día de la música’ compilation in full is also available as a free download.

Other historical record given away in Spain is a compilation to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Radio 3, in which new artists such as La Bien Querida provided alternative soundtracks or covered existing ones for some of the radio station’s best known shows. In the States, The Rub Story Of Hip-Hop, dedicated to remember the best rap songs through the years, reached the year 2000 and mixed a large amount of the genre’s best tracks released at the time.

And two rarities that have seen the light of day. The odd collaboration between MF Doom and Sacha Baron Cohen, when the latter was promoting the launch of his classic comedy ‘Borat’. With Doom adding the vocals to Borat’s rhythms, the pair renamed as MF BORAT has prepared a 5-track EP ‘The Man & the Moustache’ unveiling their recordings.

On a completely different ground, experimental musician Daniel Lopatin, whose ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER moniker is about to release one of the most anticipated albums of the year in the blogosphere; gets the promotion rolling by releasing the ‘REAL SHIT/I AM YOUR DRIVER -7%%%%% VOL. I Mix’ in which the artist reveals some of the influences behind his sound.