New Site to Offer Free Music Downloads

A new digital music download Website has emerged that promises to offer tracks from Universal Music artists for free. Of course, there’s a small catch…

To download a tune from http://www.spiralfrog.com/, you’ll first have to wait a tiresome 90 seconds for the song to download. That’s no big deal; I can live with that. I lived with waiting longer than that back in the original Napster days when I was on dial-up! (It took half an hour to download one song!)

Second, you’ll have to fill out a survey each month about your buying habits. OK, a bit intrusive and demanding, but I’m willing to do this if it means no-hassle downloads on a daily basis.

The clincher for me, however, is that downloaded songs can’t be burned to a CD (strike one) nor transferred to an iPod (strike two). Strike three is obvious: the site only offers tunes from one label.

I do commend the company for attempting to find a winning solution to an ever-growing battle in the world of music. However, in my opinion, any service that restricts what I can do with something is o-u-t out. I want the exact same functionality I’d get with a store-bought, Compact Disc. Anything less is, well, less. To spiralfrog’s credit, you can transfer downloaded tracks to any Windows-compatible mobile device, so I’ll take back half a strike.

On a brighter note, I do believe that spiralfrog.com is on to something. How did the company manage to snag a deal with Universal to offer its tunes for free? Through online advertising: to which a portion of the revenue is undoubtedly paid to the label. This sounds like the most logical option I’ve heard to date. As it is right now, I quite often endure 10-15 second commercials so I can watch an online video, or engage in a quick game of Bejeweled 2. So I’d be more than happy to watch a quick commercial, or eyeball some ads, in order to download a desired track. This is provided I’m able to do with it as I like once it’s “mine”.

Spiralfrog.com might not be the breakthrough we’ve been looking for, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

NBC Universal Says No to iTunes

NBC Universal is not renewing its contract with iTunes. According to Reuters, the studio is iTunes' number-one supplier of digital videos, including popular TV shows like Heroes, 30 Rock, and The Office.

NBC reportedly wants Apple to pay an inflated fee for the content, which would result in an increase in the price customers pay for downloads (supposedly US$4.99 per episode instead of US$1.99). Apple says sorry, that won't fly.

Of course none of this matters to us Canucks north of the border who can’t even get downloadable TV content through the Canadian iTunes service. Not that I'm bitter, but I'll digress, since this is a whole other topic unto itself!

Nevertheless, this decision could lead to some very interesting possible outcomes. The first, I propose, is that downloadable online video continues to appeal only to techno-geek, early adopters, and eventually dwindles away. Downloadable video is still in a growth phase. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the most popular media download site (i.e. iTunes) starts offering fewer quality videos instead of more, aren’t we moving in the wrong direction of where we want to be?

The second possible outcome is this: imagine NBC decides to launch its own site to rival iTunes (but just offers its own content); or partners with a competing online store that accomodates the price NBC wants. Would you pay $1.99 for stuff you don't want; or $4.99 for stuff you do? NBC announced in March that it would launch an ad-supported online video distribution site in partnership with Fox that would be available through partners like AOL and MySpace. You never know: I could be way off base, but an online video download store may not be too far off the horizon!

Sure, Apple’s domination in the portable player and online download arena is really being put to the test as of late, but we can't forget the third possible scenario: NBC feels the pain of missing the exposure of its 2007-08 season through iTunes (Apple reportedly said it would pull the plug before the new season rather than wait until the end of the year); and Apple laughs all the way to the bank.

Which way will things go? We'll just have to wait and see.

RIP Sam The Record Man

It’s no secret that sales of pysical CDs have been suffering at the expense of digital tracks from online services like iTunes, Puretrack, and, dare I say it, illegal peer-to-peer sites. We saw the iconic Tower Records close, and now downtown Toronto’s long-standing music retail store Sam The Record Man has seen its last days. As tough as it is to admit, we saw it coming.

The store will close next month. The CBC quoted Bob Sniderman, son of Founder Sam Sniderman, as saying: “Culture and society are changing. Our decision is a reflection on the state of the industry. We can't compete with what's happening in technology."

Other music retailers have taken steps to help offset the decline in CD purchases: Future Shop launched its own online music download service called Bonfire (powered by Puretracks) in 2004; while traditional music/DVD retailer HMV added video games, consoles, and accessories to its product mix last summer. The reality is, however, that digital will only continue to rise: with sites like iTunes, downloading a digital album will sometimes even provide you with the full CD jacket, including artist bios and song lyrics. Those who used the absence of these things as an argument against digital are certainly tight-lipped now.

If a music retailer wants to compete in cyber-world, here are a few suggestions. Cater to a specific niche market: offer tracks that haven’t yet found their way into the online arena. For example, a couple of my colleagues are hard-core classical music fans, and can’t find specific symphonies and performances through a music download site. These audiophile customers will remain faithful to the traditional retail model until they find a comparable alternative.

Another idea is to convert into a music café. I visited a Starbucks in South Beach, Miami last year, which was outfitted with really neat music listening stations that let you preview songs, and create your own custom-made CDs while sipping your latte. Speaking of Starbucks, I wouldn't be surprised to see one of those erected in the Yonge St. spot Sam currently occupies.

RIP, downtown T.O. Sam. Us Torontonians will miss ya.

Note: Two Sam franchise locations still exist: one in Belleville and another in Sarnia. I can hear the clock ticking…