free music downloads by Universal Music
Posted on | August 30, 2006 | 1 Comment
in what could turn out to be the beginning-of-the-end for current digital-music business-models, newcomer SpiralFrog yesterday announced a major deal with the Universal Music Group, authorizing SpiralFrog to distribute UMG’s extensive catalog as free – though DRM’ed – and legal downloads within the United States & Canada. the free music-service is an attempt to offer “young consumers an easy-to-use alternative to pirated music”. SpiralFrog will monetize on advertisment by – according to TechCrunch – requiring users to log into their website at least once a month to keep downloaded files valid (probably by a technique similar to Napster on-the-go). TC further reports that SpiralFrog will be based on the Windows-Media-format, therefor locking out millions of iPod users (though it’s not even sure if mobile playback will be supported at all). SpiralFrog’s service will be launched in late 2006.
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September 6th, 2006 @ 11:48 am
[...] SpiralFrog is in the news again. after last weeks major announcement on their deal with Universal Music (entitling SpiralFrog to start distribution of free music-downloads from Universal’s catalog by the end of 2006), a yesterday announced partnership unveils a similar venture between SpiralFrog and EMI Music Publishing. with two major labels on board and Universal about to buy one half of Sony-BMG, SpiralFrog’s business-model is strongly gaining momentum among the music industry. while it’s clear that the free distribution-model will be ad-supported, there is still no statement on the exact form of advertising being used. according to rumours on a recent episode of TWIT, advertising could even go as far as requiring the user to listen to ad-spots each time they access a song. [...]