When he sacked his manager on Twitter last night, Wiley fans probably thought they'd seen it all before. Then he started uploading zip files containing mountains of unreleased music ...

If there's one thing world-weary Wileyoligists have learned, it's to never be surprised by anything he does. Ever. Which is why his Twitter hissyfit yesterday, slating and then sacking his manager John Woolf, was less melodramatic than it might seem. He's even thrown this kind of tantrum before – 18 months ago, when he publicly dissed Woolf for the travesty that was Cash in My Pocket: "If You Knew How Mad I Am Right Now Watch The Video For The 1st Time And Its That Shit Version Of The Tune John Woolf I Am Gonna Get You I Promise 1 Day You Will Pay For This You Tramp I Hate You."

But then yesterday evening, in a fit of pique, Wiley found a new way to surprise us: he embarked on the sudden and cathartic process of giving away what appears to be 11 zip files of finished tracks, freestyles and demos, recorded mostly in the last year. The zip files giveaway is still going on as I type, and is being archived in this gargantuan thread on Grimeforum.com.

Wiley has spent most of the past year referring to himself as The Elusive, also the name of the album for Island he has just wilfully scuppered. As a nom de guerre it perfectly describes the impossibility of ever working with – or working out – the man also known as Richard Cowie. As I recounted in my Ten Essential Wiley Tracks for Fact magazine, he's had beefs, fall-outs, and tantrums galore, been stabbed 14 times, retired at least twice, and never released an album without denouncing it. The word incorrigible springs to mind.

In the stream of consciousness that has spewed forth from his Twitter feed in the last 24 hours, one truth stood out: "I jus want everyone to know I make music day and night." Full analysis will take a while longer, but for demos and cast-offs, the quality seems astonishingly high, moving through the 80-odd tracks that have been uploaded so far. As one Grimeforum.com user suggested, there are (or rather, were) a few top 10 hits in there.

In contrast to the electro-schlock of some of his recent chart singles, tracks such as Elusive Intro and Playground Freestyle demonstrate Wiley is still capable of the breathtakingly forward-thinking beats that made his name in 2003. And lyrically, he's lost none of his old fire – delivering the same winning mix of hazy metaphor and gut-churning honesty, self-doubt and head-strong confidence. "Can't kill Bill you are not Uma Thurman … It's all about passport travel / Especially when you came from the gravel / Kids know my lyrics like Christmas carols," he spits on Aim High, perhaps the highlight so far.

One stoical soul who has been working with Wiley in recent years told me he once received a phonecall on Christmas morning, while opening presents with family.

"I've got some more finished tunes for you, if I send them over now can you check them out please?"

"Wiley," he said. "You do realise it's Christmas don't you? Aren't you going to take a day off?" The grime legend reeled, apologised, and hung up. The idea of a day off from music didn't even figure in his thinking. Never mind The Elusive, Wiley is The Compulsive.

From Steve Mason to Snoop, guardian.co.uk/music readers keep us in the know on the first day of Glastonbury

@jazm ROFL @ Rolf

•@Rory_Foster The Cheek show potential but material's a bit thin. Think I'll wait for the second album when their songwriting's matured

•@laurenloquax Peggy Sue opened the Park with their usual charm. Ideal for easing us all into Friday while sitting in the sun! Lush

•@lexplex_ The Rabbit Hole is hiding many musical gems, like Bryony Marie Fry who has a record deal imminent

•@lexplex_ Steve Mason was sheer sonic cool. The best of Beta Band and King Biscuit Time in a shiny solo package

•@lba_dub Ellie Goulding v Snoop Dogg cursing game: one "bloody" v ... er, lost count after five secs

•@Wendy_Oloya Snoop offered gin and juice, which he passed to the crowd, reminding us what his m*****f****** name was. Beautiful

•@angelus1981 Perfect Snoop weather. Can't help thinking privileged white kids wouldn't be krunking like this in the pissing rain

•@lba_dub Gorillaz – didn't work for me. Damon's other band were 100 times better last year

•@EcoTrek2010 Can't even begin to do justice to how amazing Florence was. Doubt I'll see an act this weekend that tops that euphoria

•@lexplex_ Mystery Jets haven't skipped a beat since I first saw them in 2004. Really personable stage presence

•@charlierapple Disproportionate number of gingers in the audience for Newton Faulkner. Some don't look natural – I think they are spies #gmreview

Your chance to join our team in tweeting this year's festival

As Stevie says, Glastonbury needs you. Or more precisely, guardian.co.uk/music needs you to help with our 24-hour Twitter coverage of the world's best music festival.

If you followed our online Glastonbury coverage last year, you'll have noticed our constant stream of tweets keeping you updated with the latest news and gossip from journalists, bands and special guests. Well, we'll be doing the same again this year, but we want you to be involved too.

So if you're going to be tweeting at Glastonbury this year, send a message to @guardianmusic and tell us in 140 characters why your tweets will be essential reading. We'll choose the best ones and get in touch so we can add you to this year's Twitter stream.

Companies are preying on desperate musicians by selling them Twitter followers, Facebook fans and even download sales. But only a fool would think this is real success ...

One of the most staggering statistics I took from this year's The Great Escape was that analytics company MusicMetric is currently tracking 450,000 artists. As it's not following every artist out there, we can safely say there are more than half a million competing for your attention. So how are they supposed to get heard?

Unsurprisingly, new companies have emerged that are intent on profiting from the increasing desperation of artists and start-up record labels, in the same way that modelling agencies prey on young, naïve hopefuls.

Last year, I questioned if internet radio stations like Jango and Last.fm's Powerplay – which charged $30 and $200, respectively, for 1000 plays – were actually giving value for money. Now, with social media becoming increasingly important in marketing, some companies are selling "fans" and "followers".

On Usocial.net you can buy 1,000 Twitter followers for $87, 1,000 Facebook friends for $197, and 5,000 YouTube views for $97. There's an annoying woman who pops up on each of their pages, saying things like: "We know the secrets to making an overnight rockstar on Twitter ... without any effort."

It's unclear from Usocial's website how they go about getting you these followers and views, but maybe Subvertandprofit.com provides a clue. Subvert and Profit (even the name makes me queasy) charges a $0.40 "base price" per Facebook and Twitter follower and $0.75 per YouTube vote. They also have a Social Media User page, which describes how you can earn money from performing tasks on social media sites. You earn a "base price" of $0.20 (a maximum of $0.50) per task performed on Facebook and Twitter ($0.30 on YouTube). They even have a pyramid scheme where, if you refer a friend, you earn $0.05 every time they perform a task.

As anyone with any sense knows, thousands of Twitter followers do not a rock star make. It's a warped system when the marketing company and the "music fan" makes money out of the artist, with little – if any – gain for the artist. What's to stop someone signing up for a Twitter and Facebook account that they never look at, just to make money from "performing tasks"?

One of the worst examples of a company taking advantage of desperate artists is a new Australian venture called Chartfixer (the clue is in the name). For $6,000, Chartfixer will crowd-source 1,000 downloaders to each buy a digital copy of an artist's track from iTunes. After purchasing the track, the downloader can claim the cost back and obtain a reward of one dollar. In Australia, 1,000 sales can get you into the top 80, whereas 5,000 sales (which would cost $25,000) can buy you a potential top 20 hit.

They're hoping to launch in the UK – where you'd need a lot more sales to get into the charts – but since the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) says that sales for any release found to be using the service would be disqualified, they may find it difficult to find customers here.

My advice for artists fighting to get heard is to build their fanbase organically. It takes time, but that's how you develop a loyal fanbase. If you find it difficult attracting fans, try spending more time practising and developing your songwriting skills than on social media (that doesn't mean you shouldn't use social media, but get the music right first). Try to be distinctive – you're competing with half a million artists.

Whatever you do, do not be lured into paying for the "shortcuts" these companies are selling. After all, it's difficult enough these days getting people to pay for the music they like.