s.w.a.t
31st August 2006, 04:39 PM
Free music downloads, with a catch
COMBINED WIRE SERVICES
August 30, 2006
SpiralFrog, a new online music service, yesterday said it reached an agreement with Universal Music Group to offer free downloads of its songs and is trying to reach similar deals with other record labels.
The service, to be launched in December, experiments with a new business model that is funded entirely by advertising, as opposed to the pay-per-song model of Apple Computer Inc.'s market-leading iTunes music store. Universal Music Group represents some of the biggest-selling acts in the recording industry, including U2, Gwen Stefani, the Roots, the Killers and Audioslave.
SpiralFrog will allow consumers to download any Universal Music song free of charge, as long as they watch one 90-second advertisement per song. Video downloads will require viewing a 120-second ad. Additionally, users must log onto the Web site once a month and watch additional ads to keep the tunes.
In return, users can listen to songs, ad-free, as many times as desired on a computer, portable music player or music-enabled cell phone.
The 90-second download is significantly longer than the 15 to 20 seconds it takes to download a ditty from iTunes, where songs cost 99 cents.The two-year deal calls for New York-based SpiralFrog.com to split advertising revenue with the recording company, said Lance Ford, chief marketing and sales officer for SpiralFrog.
Users can download an unlimited number of songs or music videos if they register at the site.
The tracks cannot be burned to a CD, but users will be able to transfer music to portable media players equipped with Microsoft Windows digital rights management software, Ford said. While the idea of free, legal downloads will likely appeal to consumers, record industry executives say it remains to be seen whether SpiralFrog can attract enough advertising revenue to pay record companies for their catalogs.
The site also needs to sign on other major labels, such as EMI Group Plc and Warner Music Group Corp., to offer enough songs to attract strong user traffic. Both record labels said they were in talks with SpiralFrog.
SpiralFrog said it intends to share advertising income with its partners. "The [record companies] are keen on discussions about the model, but those discussions are complicated," Ford said.
Meanwhile, AOL, the Internet unit of Time Warner Inc., started a revamped online music service yesterday, offering more than 2.5 million songs and thousands of videos as one-time purchases or on a subscription basis.
Consumers can buy single tunes for 99 cents each and videos for $1.99, AOL said.
http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/ny-bzfrog304870392aug30,0,6814705.story
COMBINED WIRE SERVICES
August 30, 2006
SpiralFrog, a new online music service, yesterday said it reached an agreement with Universal Music Group to offer free downloads of its songs and is trying to reach similar deals with other record labels.
The service, to be launched in December, experiments with a new business model that is funded entirely by advertising, as opposed to the pay-per-song model of Apple Computer Inc.'s market-leading iTunes music store. Universal Music Group represents some of the biggest-selling acts in the recording industry, including U2, Gwen Stefani, the Roots, the Killers and Audioslave.
SpiralFrog will allow consumers to download any Universal Music song free of charge, as long as they watch one 90-second advertisement per song. Video downloads will require viewing a 120-second ad. Additionally, users must log onto the Web site once a month and watch additional ads to keep the tunes.
In return, users can listen to songs, ad-free, as many times as desired on a computer, portable music player or music-enabled cell phone.
The 90-second download is significantly longer than the 15 to 20 seconds it takes to download a ditty from iTunes, where songs cost 99 cents.The two-year deal calls for New York-based SpiralFrog.com to split advertising revenue with the recording company, said Lance Ford, chief marketing and sales officer for SpiralFrog.
Users can download an unlimited number of songs or music videos if they register at the site.
The tracks cannot be burned to a CD, but users will be able to transfer music to portable media players equipped with Microsoft Windows digital rights management software, Ford said. While the idea of free, legal downloads will likely appeal to consumers, record industry executives say it remains to be seen whether SpiralFrog can attract enough advertising revenue to pay record companies for their catalogs.
The site also needs to sign on other major labels, such as EMI Group Plc and Warner Music Group Corp., to offer enough songs to attract strong user traffic. Both record labels said they were in talks with SpiralFrog.
SpiralFrog said it intends to share advertising income with its partners. "The [record companies] are keen on discussions about the model, but those discussions are complicated," Ford said.
Meanwhile, AOL, the Internet unit of Time Warner Inc., started a revamped online music service yesterday, offering more than 2.5 million songs and thousands of videos as one-time purchases or on a subscription basis.
Consumers can buy single tunes for 99 cents each and videos for $1.99, AOL said.
http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/ny-bzfrog304870392aug30,0,6814705.story