Back when Napster was all the rage, big name artists were up in arms because their material was being made available for free to whoever wanted it wherever a computer with Internet access existed. On the other hand, if a musician wanted to get mass distribution on the cheap, Napster and similar programs were a godsend. Detroit crooner Dwele’s career is a testament to that.

Recorded mostly in his bedroom, Dwele’s Rize demo was highly sought after in the Motor City during the late 1990s. However, supply couldn’t meet demand and the album didn’t make it much past Southeast Michigan. Then around 2001, Rize tracks like “Down Jimmy” surfaced on peer-to-peer music servers. Around the same time uber-tastemaker Gilles Peterson heard some of the songs and started giving them spins on his “Worldwide” show on the BBC’s Radio 1. With this seal of approval plus the growing popularity of Detroit acts he had associations with such as Slum Village, Dwele was poised for bigger and better things.

In 2003, he released his first studio album, Subject. Here, Dwele built off of the platform created by Rize, which demonstrated that good singers don’t necessarily have to be overpowering. Instead, he opts to keep his vocal delivery right around normal conversation level. Complimenting the voice, Dwele’s lyrics to songs like “Truth” and “Find A Way” also come across as if he were dialoguing with friends or a love interest. As a result, virtually every track is incredibly smooth and engrossing sonically. His second studio recording, 2005’s Some Kinda…, expanded on Subject with Dwele taking on more of the producing and writing duties. Given that he’s already a multi-instrumentalist, becoming more self-contained has allowed him to create complete soundscapes that accentuate his talents.

And talent is something Dwele isn’t short on. Not only has he produced himself, but he’s also done remixes for Lucy Pearl as well as British vocalists Ty and Natasha Bedingfield. Not forgetting how he got his first big break, he’s been known to have a few non-album tracks float around cyberspace to keep his buzz going. Insofar, this somewhat atypical route to popularity, especially in R&B, has paid off for Dwele as he has become one of urban adult contemporary music’s most popular artists in the past five years.

Dwele performs at The Birchmere tonight along with Shae Fiol at 7:30 p.m., $25.