Slashdot Mirror

Don't see much newsworthy content here. Spotify was sign up before so nothing much changed. (Seems more free PR than anything for them.)

A change to the real competition would be news. Free streaming music without registration.
In the UK;
http://www.we7.com/

The US equivalent;
http://www.lala.com/

In the UK we also have http://www.we7.com/ who do web based streaming using an ad supported model.

Moose

There are multiple alternatives here are some suggestions (and there are lots more than this out there).

If you just want to listen try http://last.fm/ for streaming music of artists that you like (if you scrobble it's easier to find artists that sound like artists you like as last.fm will make recommendations - you can also subscribe to a postcast and get free songs). For some free songs try the shop at http://www.sellaband.com/ (the non free songs are 50 cents each - there's usually 3 free songs per artist). Amie street can also be a cheap place to find indie or older mainstream music http://www.amiestreet.com/ (the more popular songs are more expensive but the less popular songs are cheap). I didn't like it so much but there's always we7 http://www.we7.com/ - it used to be ad supported (not sure about now) but after some amount of time you can download a set number of ad free songs per month.

As with all things YMMV compared to what I've liked and found useful. As with all of these sorts of sites registration is required. None have been particularly onerous with excessive emails and they usually have ways of opting out of getting email from them.

Y'know though, the labels and record companies are really just middlemen and the artists make their money from concert tours

This is an absolute myth, a tour is the biggest expense an artist can have. It is a major marketing expense underwritten by the record company. For gigs of between around 300 (playing in a local pub) and 3000 (playing a major venue) fans, the label does not make a profit. Yes, it is true that live music is more popular than ever and some venues and concert promoters are making money but the bands you see playing anything bigger than a couple of hundred people are supported by a label. For unsigned bands to get noticed, at We7 we run a tastemakers challenge where bands can compete to make money from downloads and streams on our site. Take a look: www.we7.com

Steve Purdham
CEO - We7
www.we7.com

Y'know though, the labels and record companies are really just middlemen and the artists make their money from concert tours

This is an absolute myth, a tour is the biggest expense an artist can have. It is a major marketing expense underwritten by the record company. For gigs of between around 300 (playing in a local pub) and 3000 (playing a major venue) fans, the label does not make a profit. Yes, it is true that live music is more popular than ever and some venues and concert promoters are making money but the bands you see playing anything bigger than a couple of hundred people are supported by a label. For unsigned bands to get noticed, at We7 we run a tastemakers challenge where bands can compete to make money from downloads and streams on our site. Take a look: www.we7.com

Steve Purdham
CEO - We7
www.we7.com

This sounds a lot like We7, only with faff about DRM.

We7 do advertising supported downloads of MP3s, so you can put them on whatever device you want, including your iPod. A month after you downloaded the ad version, you can go back and re-download without adverts. They've got quite a lot of major labels on board, so there's a fairly decent choice. With the option of We7, why would you bother with something similar that still has DRM crap on it?

This sounds a lot like We7, only with faff about DRM.

We7 do advertising supported downloads of MP3s, so you can put them on whatever device you want, including your iPod. A month after you downloaded the ad version, you can go back and re-download without adverts. They've got quite a lot of major labels on board, so there's a fairly decent choice. With the option of We7, why would you bother with something similar that still has DRM crap on it?

I recently discovered http://we7.com/ and it offers free music, DRM free, to own. The files are compatible with all MP3 players and it is extremely new artist friendly. The service is sponsored by Peter Gabriel and seems very innovative. The only downside is that there isnt as much music available as with spiral frog, but Im sure this will change. Once the content grows more (and its permanantly on the rise) my money is on this to be the king of the ad funded models. NB its only 3 months old!! http://we7.com/

I recently discovered http://we7.com/ and it offers free music, DRM free, to own. The files are compatible with all MP3 players and it is extremely new artist friendly. The service is sponsored by Peter Gabriel and seems very innovative. The only downside is that there isnt as much music available as with spiral frog, but Im sure this will change. Once the content grows more (and its permanantly on the rise) my money is on this to be the king of the ad funded models. NB its only 3 months old!! http://we7.com/

I just downloaded a song and am listening to it as I type (Coolio's Gangsta walk it was one of the first songs on the list).

- There's a 10 second ad clip in the beginning for We7. After that, the music starts.
- Half the song later, no second ad, just music.
- The music inexplicably stops 10 seconds before the song's done, but there's still no second ad.

I don't know how they make money off of advertising their own service in the beginning of the song. Does anyone have an answer for this? And couldn't anyone just download a song, then import it in an audio editor like Audacity, delete the 10 second ad in the beginning and export it back? A quick scan of the terms doesn't seem to prohibit that.