Free Muzak- Legally

[s.w.a.t]

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/prin...,6814705.story

[Walrus]

I thought Andre was the forum's newsticker...

[vaticandrummer]

You gotta be kidding me.

The music industry just hit a new low.

[Walrus]

Originally Posted by vaticandrummer

You gotta be kidding me.

The music industry just hit a new low.

Don't worry about the industry, man. Worry about the music itself. That's all I care about. I play it because I love it.

[golden jiggy]

It's still easier to just download things illegally for a lot of people.

[vaticandrummer]

Yeah, but the only way to make it is to go with the industry. I love playing music, don't get me wrong, but I'm not gonna live in my mom's basement jamming every weekend and working at McDonald's the rest of my life just because I don't wanna comply with the industry.

I just think it's bullsh*t how they use advertising to keep the RIAA off their asses. I would never in my life make my fans sit and watch a stupid advertisement just so they could listen to our songs. I would rather drive out and hand them the CD in person before I made them do that crap.

[BlueBreegull]

Pfft. I won't take a part in this. There are far easier ways, and I despise ads.

[s.w.a.t]

Psh. not like I pay attention to the msic laws anyway.

So vat, when your CD comes out you'll drive to NYC and give it to me?

[Icy Guy]

Originally Posted by s.w.a.t

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.

A "catch" this is not. All you need is GoldWave and a little knowledge of your computer's audio properties to record the music as it plays back in their player, and bam! One CD-burnable WAV, thanks to an easy workaround.

But you didn't hear it from me.

[vaticandrummer]

Originally Posted by s.w.a.t

Psh. not like I pay attention to the msic laws anyway.

So vat, when your CD comes out you'll drive to NYC and give it to me?

No, because I'll put it on LimeWire.

[pinkbull]

Originally Posted by vaticandrummer

No, because I'll put it on LimeWire.

Post it as a torrent instead. =B

[Zeek]

If you really want free music just go to g2p.org . Which is a better way to get music legally.

[Tanjo]

Face it, EVERYONE illegally downloads music. Itunes costs too much anyway. A dollar per song? I dont think so. Plus its apple. And everyone hates apple.

[Walrus]

Originally Posted by new@bthacking

Face it, EVERYONE illegally downloads music.

Unfair generalization. I can name a few people who don't. Golden Jiggy, for one.

Originally Posted by new@bthacking

And everyone hates apple.

I don't. Therefore this statement is false.

[RareBK]

Originally Posted by s.w.a.t

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/prin...,6814705.story

OBJECTION