Peter Gabriel has free music ambitions

[danrok]

New site We7 to offer free advertising sponsored music downloads.

Story from the front page:
http://www.aoaforums.com/frontpage/content/view/2600/1/

Comments?

[WonderBread]

so how is "We7" pronounced?

[Samuknow]

After DL a song is says....WE SEVEN...

[Toro]

yay adverts on tracks??

Me thinks not

[Gizmo]

I dunno...........according to the site, the tracks will only have 10 seconds of advert at the beginning of the track, and after 4 weeks you have the option of getting it ad free. Alternatively, they give you the option of buying it outright for a 'reasonable' fee, and you get it ad free. None of the options are DRMed.

Sounds to me like they are really TRYING to provide what the public wants, while ensuring that the artists get compensated.

[Samuknow]

It is MP3 format also.

Again...As long as a bunch of pop ups don't start showing up on my machine. It is not a bad idea

[danrok]

I can see that dedicated fans of well established bands, are not going to relish the thought of any kind of audio jingle at the start of a much loved track.

But, this is more focused at new small bands, who might otherwise struggle to get a financial foothold on the ladder.

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by danrok

I can see that dedicated fans of well established bands, are not going to relish the thought of any kind of audio jingle at the start of a much loved track.

Ah, but if it means that much to them, they can simply buy the track without the audio in it. Everything has a price, and the artists deserve to be compensated for their work. If you don't want to compensate them by tolerating the advertising for 4 weeks, well fine, just compensate the artist by purchasing it outright.

Of course, we don't have any idea what percentage the artists are getting.

[Toro]

Originally Posted by gizmo

Ah, but if it means that much to them, they can simply buy the track without the audio in it. Everything has a price, and the artists deserve to be compensated for their work.

But they would be compensated through the advertising revenue no?

[Samuknow]

Well, I am going to give it a try and report back. What do I have to loose?

[Toro]

not much I guess

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by Toro

But they would be compensated through the advertising revenue no?

The artist is only compensated by the advertising revenue if you download a track that has advertising in it. If the song has no advertising, the artist doesn't get paid by the advertiser. Therefore, you have to offset the lost revenue by ponying up the money yourself.

Perhaps an analogy is in order:

AOA runs 4 ad locations, top, bottom, left, right. I know when we put those ads up that it was not hugely popular, and a lot of people would prefer to see those ads disappear. Heck, <I> would prefer to see those ads disappear. But we must face reality; bandwidth costs money, and the people paying the bills out of their pockets every month can't afford to do so forever. Something has to give. That something is advertising.

Quite frankly, without the advertising revenue we have, I'm not sure our benefactors could have afforded to keep things going as long as they have.

However, the fact remains that the ads are not popular. So, for those who are bothered by the advertising, we offer an option: subscribe to AOA. $2/month or $20/year, and you get rid of the side bar ads and the bottom ad. The subscription fee offsets the advertsing revenue we lose by not having the ads.

We7 is offering the same deal: if you want the music for free, it comes with advertising, which helps compensate the artist. If you want the music with no advertising, well you either put up with the ads for 4 weeks (after which you can get the advertising removed), or you pay something to offset the advertising fees that the artist would have received.

[danrok]

At present, there is no other way, the sale of standalone music, can work. They have pretty much covered every viable option.

The only other way artists can make money, without us paying directly, is to have their music featured in movies, tv commercials, games, etc. For an unknown band, this method would be like winning the lottery. So, the We7 idea gives more bands a fair opportunity.

Even so, we are still paying indirectly. The advertising costs are factored in to the prices we pay for products. But, the artist's pay has to come from somewhere.

[fearless joe]

if you can actualy remove the add after 4 weeks, or download the non add vertion, (as long as its not an overly complicated deal prevralably auto) then this almost seems to good to be true. ill be trying it.

[fearless joe]

ok i joined but the email says keep an eye out for an email when they are getting new members as they are beta testing, so i shall report back at some point

[Samuknow]

They are having trouble with their site. I gust got another email from them.

[aghastpumpkin]

I'd rather listen to the radio, thanks.

[Áedán]

I find that's a great option, if you want to listen to someone else's idea of what the A,B and C playlists should sound like. However, if you want something a bit different, then the radio doesn't tend to cover it in my experience. Nor does it tend to cover bands who are not signed.