Universal Music, in the midst of a rare bout of ingenuity, is backing a an ad-supported digital download service.
Due to start in December, SpiralFrog, as it is to be called, will rely solely on advertising revenue to pay for the music downloads.
“Perry Ellis, the fashion company, said it would advertise on SpiralFrog. Levi’s, Aeropostale, Benetton and others have expressed interest. “Our audience is into music and can be more easily reached on the web,” said Oscar Feldenkreis, president of Perry Ellis International.”
This is an obvious departure from contemporary revenue streams, but considering that there is approximately 40 illegal downloads for every legal one, they really don’t have much to lose in trying. If anything it speaks volumes about their willingness to at least attempt something bold and new.
Time will only tell if it’s successful, but I think I’d personally be willing to watch a a 10 or 20 second little schpeal from an advertiser. After all, who’s to say I can’t use that time as a cigarette break and return when it’s done?
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O.K. FINALLY! If you were to look back to postings in Zero Paid and other file sharing forums you would see that many–including this writer–suggested this years ago when NAPSTER and other filing sharing applications first came under fire from the recording industry. Advertising supported free file sharing is not a new idea! It’s about time that’s all I can say. Think about it: sometimes you need to wait a while as a file downloads. Might as well view an entertaining Levi’s ad while you’re waiting.