Blades puts honor to test on Web site

Ruben Blades, the acclaimed salsa and world music star, is poised to launch a musical project this week available exclusively on his personal Web site.

Starting Wednesday, fans will be able to download a set of 11 new songs by Blades and several other performers, mostly unknown pop-rock artists whom he discovered in travels from Panama to Utah.

The songs will be available free but on an honor system. Those who download the music will be asked to send a contribution, in any amount the customer deems fair and affordable, to cover the costs and pay the artists. The novel marketing experiment comes as Blades parts company with his longtime record label, Sony, which issued works by the singer-songwriter over the past decade.

His last release, “Mundo,” won this year’s Grammy for best world music album. This marks the first time in more than 25 years that Blades has worked without a record company.

The Panamanian singer, who made landmark albums for the Fania and Elektra labels in the ‘70s and ‘80s, has recorded an unreleased album of new songs that he is considering to place for sale on his Web site at www.rubenblades.com

The singer has no plans to sign a new recording contract with any label. He recently expressed disillusionment with the state of the music business. He said record labels slavishly followed marketing formulas that discouraged established artists from exploring new creative directions and offered few opportunities for new artists.

Introducing his concept on his Web site, Blades wrote in Spanish: “This experiment will determine whether we will be able to forego intermediaries in the future and offer our work at a lower cost, while preserving for the artist the direct benefits of his labor.”