PC World PC World’s Techlog Free Music From Universal: A Landmark?
The Universal Music Group news does indeed involve everything it owns being available for free if you look at ads, although the more I learn about it, the less certain I am whether this is the tipping point that leads to music in general adopting a free model, or simply an intriguing experiment. The service, due later this year, will be offered by a company called SpiralFrog, which says it would like to sign deals with the other major music labels. Watch a 90-second ad and you can download a song; watch a two-minute one, and you can download a video; to keep them, you’ll need to return to SpiralFrog’s site and watch more ads. The music will be free, but not freely available, and because the music and copy protection are wrapped up in Microsoft’s WMA format, the tunes won’t play on the vast majority of audio players out there (read: iPods).
(Via Robert Fripp
And how will the ad-revenue be shared with the artist? I am so happy I don’t have to deal with a major (or minor) record company anymore. I find that “La Semana”, “Winter Rose” and especially the new “One Guitar” are my best work and relish the fact that I own the masters. (BTW – every artist on the SSRI label owns their master.) Ah, back to music for ad-viewing… wasn’t that predicted years ago? Buy a six-pack of Classic Coke and get a link to download some classic Rolling Stones songs… Buy and iPod and receive U2 music… A Landmark? I don’t think so.
Push a button, get some food. This whole scheme makes me feel like a monkey in a laboratory. Only this is more like: Trade a little brainwashing for some free music.