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Recycle some of your 100 million Pepsi Songs

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the thats-a-fun-idea dept.

grub writes "If you're one of the people that wins a free download from Apple's iTunes during the upcoming 100 million song giveaway from Pepsi, then check out Tune Recycler. They say: "With the Tune Recycler, you can send us your unwanted iTunes bottlecap codes and we'll use them to support independent music. Easy for you, and good for musicians" Sounds like a great idea for payments that may otherwise be tossed in the trash."

13 of 383 comments (clear)

  1. Killing the golden goose? by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Even the Tune Recycler site admits that Pepsi and Apple are expecting that a majority of the "winning" bottlecaps are going to be ignored and unclaimed. If this kind of site encurages more returns than antisipated, might this prevent there from being a repeat of this promotion in the future?

    1. Re:Killing the golden goose? by mrseigen · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If I were a betting man, I'd put money on the fact that 90% of idiots will go "Hmm, there's this Eye-Tunes thing in my Pepsi... oh well" and toss it. I'd bet that probably very few people will cash in their codes, and even fewer will give them away to this site or even know it exists.

      Personally, I'm in Canada, so I don't really care (iTMS isn't over here because of the Canadian music industry being a pain).

    2. Re:Killing the golden goose? by MacBrave · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Michigan has a 10 cent deposit on it's cans and bottles.

      I used to buy cans in neighboring states that didn't have deposits (like Indiana) then turn them in at a store in MI for $.10 a can. This worked until the stores started getting machines that scanned the bar code on the can.

  2. how long by everyplace · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How long before extra itunes codes wind up on ebay in lots? Will that be an appropriate thing to sell?

    1. Re:how long by Octagon+Most · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "... they technically have a cash value of 1/20 cents ..."

      True. On paper coupons where you see that printed it refers specifically to the redemption value honored by the issuer. In other words you could not turn in x number of "$1.00 off" coupons to the manufacturer and redeem them for x dollars. Absent that legalese you probably could make the case for forcing them to give you that cash value in actual cash. At least that's probably why the "cash value" statement appears.

      Now, as others are saying, something is worth what people are willing to pay. That $1.00 off coupon that you are not going to use has no material value to you but is worth some amount up to $1.00 to me if I am going to buy the promoted item. I could give you $0.50 and we'd both be getting something. The same would apply to these winning caps provided there is not some legal barrier to selling them. Certainly there is in some areas and you would invite trouble with a mass sale in the open on eBay. But a private, or much less public, sale between individuals would not invite scrutiny. Anyway, Pepsi and Apple both win if you drink enough to get to the point where you are contemplating what to do with your winnings.

  3. Who runs this thing? by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Who's picking which songs will be downloaded with the turned-in codes? How do we not know that this isn't being set up by a group of artists who want to boost their own sales? Is there any way for additional artists to sign up to get a cut of this money?

  4. Accountabilty? by geekboy_x · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I would feel a lot better about this if there was some public accountability from Tunerecycler. Do we get statements? A redemption receipt? Summaries at the end? Anything?

    As an independent musician, I find it odd that they have never responded to an email asking for more info from an artist's POV - especially when asking for clarification on their stance on iTunes downloads. Silence can often speak volumes.

    If this was simply a list of all the bands and labels at the iTunes store (with proper documentation) that you SHOULD support by redeeming the caps yourself, I would be all for it. But there are enough holes here (and enough errors in the so-called label "tree") that I wouldnt touch this thing with a 3 metre pole.

    Have fun. Listen to music. But dont get sucked in.

    (DISCLAIMER: The band I am in offers ALL of our CDs for free on our web site, all the time. iTunes wouldn't touch us if we were the last band on earth. Whether or not you use the caps, recycle them, or paste them on a squirrel, makes no matter to us.)

    --
    -- There are two kinds of motorcycles. 1: German. 2: Crap.
  5. bad approach by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Interesting
    They're advocating sending in unused coupons so they can buy multiple copies of music from indie artists. If you don't want to install iTunes, that's an ok proxy, I guess, and better than just throwing them out.

    I think a better approach would be if all slashdot readers (or tunecycler advocates) would get indie music. tunecycler could list a new artist or song to check out every couple days, and pepsi-guzzling geeks could get a free song. That would put money in the indie artist's pocket and expose more people to their music, something their approach doesn't do.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  6. Official Rules by crumbz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Apple's Official Rules for the promotion state that the, "Maximum number of valid Codes per email address/person that can be entered at the Web Site is 10 per day and 200 total throughout the Promotion Period." I wonder how these guys are going to get around that?

  7. code?? by lastninja · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What kind of codes are Pepsi and Apple using in the bottle caps. Are the codes following some pattern or are they using random numbers?? If they follow a pattern and it is true that only 10% of all codes are used, one could just boost his favorite independant artist, during the last day of the promotion and no one would notice (except pepsi that is) provided you found the algorithm, ofcourse.

    --
    John Carmack fan, browsing at +5 since 1999.
  8. The problem by cascino · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The problem is that the largest difficulty in getting a consumer to redeem the bottle cap certificate is having them remember not to throw it away, and instead bring it home and type it into the computer.
    This recycling idea counts on people bringing home their caps but NOT redeeming them. I'm really not quite sure why anyone would want to do that. I certainly have a whole bunch of music I'd be more than happy to get for free one way or another, some of which includes independent albums.
    Why can't they simply encourage people to buy music from indy groups, instead of essentially throwing the money away on licensed files that no one's ever going to listen to?
    It's one thing to have big sales on iTunes, but if no one's ACTUALLY LISTENING to the music, what point does it serve?

  9. Easier Solution? by fidget42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    An easier solution would be to publish a list of songs (or links to them) from "honest, independent labels" and let people purchase them on their own. It would save them money on gathering the codes and may expose people to new music.

    Just a thought...

    --
    The dogcow says "Moof!"
  10. Another way to help independent musicians by tobes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm hoping that people are going to use my site to find new bands to buy with their free songs. Not in the mood to download more Radiohead? Click on Radiohead on Musicmobs and find a more independent artist that people that like Radiohead also like. Of course, there's no guarantee that what you are looking for will be in the iTunes store.