Trent Reznor is demonstrating a bit of what he plans to do with his new found label freedom by releasing a brand new 36 instrumental song release via multiple methods. You can download the whole thing from Amazon for $5 or do the Bittorrent thing (legally) with the first nine tracks which Trent supplied himself to The Pirate Bay.
UPDATE: Looks like this is working out pretty well.
Quick post this morning on a brand new social music application, JukeFly. Simliar idea (and interface) to anywhere.fm, but with one distinct difference. Instead of the painful process of uploading your music, you install a music streaming program on your home computer (Windows only). This allows for remote access to all the music you want. I found the JukeFly screens a little lagging when they refresh (i.e. scrolling through your list of songs) but the music sounds great and I had acess to all of it in just a few minutes rather than the hours it took anywhere.fm to complete my uploads. Right now you can only share music with one friend so that is an additional limitation. Seems best suited as a remote access tool only right now.
Yahoo is abandoning their own Music Unlimited program and has formed a partnership with Rhapsody. All current subscribers will be converted over. I think they will find Rhapsody to be a much better service, they will however pay for the privilege as Yahoo averages $9.00 per month, while the basic service at Rhapsody runs $12.99.
Update: Here is a nice insider’s view from Yahoo Music’s General manager Ian C. Rodgers.
This may prove to be a interesting battle in 2008. Amazon MP3 continues to expand the availability outside the US of their .99 cent DRM-free MP3s at nice sounding 256 kbps encodes. In the other corner (poised for a relaunch tonight at 12 midnight EST) is Qtrax which promises free listening to millions of audio files. This Wired article provides several interesting details, but I am still unclear of exactly how Qtrax will work until the launch…I will have to report back after a few hours with the live site.
To be fair Amazon has a huge leg up in this battle, but the business model compariosn is a fascinating one.
So which model is the future? And which do you prefer…to own your music for a “small” per track fee? or listen for free in ad-sponsored, DRM heavy format?
Personally, I ‘d like to see the Amazon model proliferate but at a per song rate under .50 cents per track.
UPDATE: Two hours past go live time and download is unavailable!…Troubles??
UPDATE 2: Not so fast Qtrax, say some major labels.
UPDATE 3: Download is now available…but this message also appears on their download page…”We’re thrilled with the massive response we’ve received. To ensure the best user experience, we’re activating accounts in stages. In the meantime, enjoy all the functionalities of the Qtrax player like importing and playing your music and searching for artist-related content. So all the hype looks like a “so what” for now….stay tuned…downloading now.
Ad/corporate sponsor supported downloads from emerging and established artists…is this the sustainable model of the future?
I do know you will find songs by Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Andrew Bird, Bloc Party, Hot Chip… all DRM-free192 Kbps mp3’s.
According to their official blog, last.fm is now allowing on demand streaming of entire songs and albums (yes they still call them that too!) I am going to check it out right now.
UPDATE: Yes it’s all true! And for a site that has in the past frustrated me with its confusing user interface, they have made great strides to improve things (still far from ideal however.) Also note that three requests of the same song will get you a prompt for their coming subscription service so the free listens will not last forever.
thesixtyone (a reference to the varied sights of Highway 61) is best described as a digg-like promotion system for songs from unsigned and independent musicians.
Anywhere.fm is an intriguing site and they seem to have a handle on the legality issues, but I guess time will tell. They allow you to upload an unlimited number of songs onto their site (mp3s only please) and are then loaded into the very itunes-inspired player. This is viewed as a legal backup of all your songs which you hold legal rights to (you do have legal license to all your music right?) Now you can listen to your tracks anywhere with a decent internet connection. Pretty cool! But they take it one step further allowing you to listen to other members songs as well. Anywhere.fm takes care of the royalties owed for each song that is streamed. Take advantage while it lasts.
You can listen to any of nearly 1500 songs I have uploaded (this was painfully slow, even on a fast connection) here…http://www.anywhere.fm/tdstone
