Service expected to go live in January 2009 and will allow visitors to stream content on-demand for free or purchase music tracks with pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll ads.
For many inside the UK and out the BBC has some of the best music programming around (my personal favorite is Radio 1′s Breezeblock). Unfortunately, up until now fans have had to rely on manually recorded shows which oftentimes aren’t exactly made with the highest of quality in mind.
BBC Worldwide has decided to join the digital music revelation and make use of their ample section of music programming by allowing visitors to stream and download content. It will be free to stream audio and video music content while track downloads are rumored to start at around 79 pence ($1.40USD).
All downloaded content will be DRM-free, but will contain pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll ads.
"We’re exploring a range of opportunities around direct to consumer websites and the utilization of the BBC music archive," said a BBC Worldwide spokesperson. "At present, no launches have been approved."
Considering that the BBC is a public service broadcaster it should’ve been prompted long ago to make more of its content available to the masses, if even only UK citizens.
Perhaps the BCC finally remembered the 6th of its half-dozen stated "Public Purposes" which is "Delivering to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services."
It reads in part:
The BBC’s content and services are perhaps the most powerful means to drive adoption of new technologies. The BBC will drive take-up of on-demand functionality by providing such access to its television and radio programming and opening up some of the BBC’s content archive for creative purposes. It will also commission new content that exploits the particular characteristics of different technologies and platforms, such as the participative nature of the internet.
In any case, it’ll be interesting to see the service go live next year. It seems fairly late in the game to be creating a digital music service, but better late then never I suppose.
… god bless the BBC … .. a genuine national treasure …
I’d be happy to have the adverts and cut them out later. The MistaJam mix on 1Xtra on a Thursday night always leaves me frustrated that I can’t keep a copy for the car. Unlike the Radio1 mixes 1Xtra doesn’t drop tags all the way through their mixes. I used to do straight recordings to MP3 player before it died on me.
Strange that the BBC would pursue an advertising based service in the first place what with their normal anti-advertising ethos and all that. Still might be something to take a look at.