We all know how much the Internet has changed the music industry landscape by enabling digital distribution, and how it has empowered artists to take back power once reserved for record labels, but a precise mechanism for artists to promote their music is often illusory.

Enter Grooveshark’s new “Artists!” service that allows bands to create campaigns that insert preselected tracks into a average Grooveshark user’s autoplay session after a similar sounding artist, which you also predetermine, is played.

For example, if a user listened to “The Food” by Common and then started an autoplay session, if you, as an artist, added Common as one of the artists your sound is similar too, then one of your uploaded tracks would then follow his in a users playlist listening to Common.

“This enables your music to not only be heard, but to be heard by people already predisposed to enjoying your genre of music,” reads the site. “You’ll be able to tell which songs users liked the most, which they didn’t like, and how many people added the songs to playlists.”

Grooveshark “Artists!” also notes that it’s crucial to select a truly similar sounding artists or otherwise your track will be “frowned” out of circulation.

“It is absolutely necessary to pick similar sounding artists to ensure that you’re marketing your songs to fans who enjoy your brand of music,” it adds.

So don’t try passing yourself off as the next Rolling Stones if you sound more like the Kidney Stones.

Now the price isn’t entirely cost prohibitive, ranging from $20 bucks for 125 plays to $2,500 for 50,000. The price is even more palatable if you consider the fact that you have complete control over your music and you can reach fans without greedy record execs to keep an eye on.

It also has a detailed analytics page for artists to track their campaigns on, with count meters for daily plays and listeners.

All in all, Grooveshark “Artists!” is a great tool for artists to promote their music and gain exposure. Sure there’s plenty of free methods of doing the same, but none seem as straightforward as this, nor do they let your work follow the likes of similar artists like Mos Def or whomever the case may be.

CHECK OUT GROOVESHARK ARTISTS

I’ve frequently discussed the new Grooveshark P2P music sharing network where users and copyright holders alike will be compensated for offering content for download. Grooveshark will pay the appropriate royalties to music copyright holders by taking commissions from users’ transactions and then also compensate users with free music for community participation such as uploading songs, fixing song tags, flagging unwanted files or reviewing music.

The content section that will be offered however, has been the subject of questions and doubts by users, for as we all know, content is king when it comes to a music download site. Many have wanted to know, including myself, exactly what music selections will be available due to the often heavy handed tactics of record labels and copyright holders when it comes to their content being offered for download.

Well, in a new press release, it has been announced that Grooveshark has signed a licensing agreement with the the UK-based V2 Music Group. It boasts an extensive music library, including Dave Matthews Band, Cold War Kids, Bloc Party, Aimee Mann, Grandaddy, Chromeo, The Rakes, and Stereophonics.

“The Grooveshark business model is a very exciting and V2 are very pleased to be delivering our content on this platform as early as the beta stages,” said Beth Appleton, head of Business Development at V2. “Peer to peer networks have phenomenal distribution and with that the commercial possibilities for distributing content could be revolutionary, with the right model. We hope that together with licensed content and an accurate pricing model, the super-distribution possibilities of peer to peer via this partnership could be a significant future revenue stream for V2 and our artists.”

Grooveshark also recently enlisted the cooperation and support of other recording industry insiders including Grammy winning jazz producer Jason Miles and former Harry Fox Agency executive and record label owner Vincent Castellucci, both of whom sit on the Grooveshark board of advisors.

I can’t say that I’m a big Dave Matthews Band fan but, many out there are, and more importantly, it signals that quality content will be offered after all. I must admit that there were fears that it would be a just another Indie-offering site, limited to unsigned bands or those from labels looking to gain exposure or cheaper and more widespread distribution of their content.

Luckily, those fears have been reconciled as Grooveshark takes this important step towards offering the sort of content that users will actually want and actively seek out. Myself personally, I really dig Bebel Gilberto, Bloc Party, the Cold War Kids, and Grandaddy(they’re from my hometown), and I’m sure I’m not alone.

With this new licensing agreement I think the exciting new Grooveshark P2P music service just may succeed after all.

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/Grooveshark_P2P_music_sharing_site_inks_deal_with_UK_based_V2_Music_Group/who’;

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Last week I wrote an article describing the upcoming start of a revolutionary new P2P music downloading service called Grooveshark.

What makes the new service so revolutionary is that it will apparently compensate BOTH copyright holders as well as participating members of the Grooveshark community.

It will broker music transactions between members, charging for the songs exchanged, and compensating copyright holders and users while providing the convenience and selection of P2P file-sharing in an online music community.

“Our bottom line is value. By bringing the convenience and selection of a peer-to-peer network together with the recommendation power of a community of friends — all the while removing DRM — we can generate revenue to compensate both copyright holders and users,” said Sam Tarantino, 20-year-old founder and CEO of Escape Media Group, the parent company of Grooveshark.

Songs will vary in price, but none will cost more than 99 cents. Grooveshark will then pay the appropriate royalties to music copyright holders by taking commissions from users’ transactions and then also compensate users with free music for community participation such as uploading songs, fixing song tags, flagging unwanted files or reviewing music. Members will be rewarded based on their level of contribution to the Grooveshark community. Additionally, all Grooveshark files will be DRM-free, allowing users to play the songs they purchase on any PC or portable digital music player.

But, what hasn’t been mentioned are the answers to the tough questions like exactly how users will be compensated, what users can contribute, and what the people behind Grooveshark think of how the RIAA and the IFPI will view their new business model.

I had a chance to ask team member Michael Vroegop recently these very questions, and his responses were even better than I had hoped.

How will users preexisting music libraries be incorporated into Grooveshark, and will there be an effort to scan content for pirated music?

There will be a *very* small java-based plugin which will index each user’s music files locally and facilitate p2p file transfers. It will be very simple, as the online parts of the system will do most of the work. Imagine µtorrent’s behavior, with a web-based interface, connected to a rich user-driven community and a host of other features.

How our users originally acquired their music won’t matter to us; all that matters to us is that the copyright holders get appropriately paid for their work within our marketplace. We are embracing the power of p2p while enabling copyright compensation to occur. In a sense, we are legitimizing files that were once deemed “pirated”—once a file enters Grooveshark, any transactions of that file within our system will be legal, paid for, and will compensate the copyright holders.

Precisely how will users be compensated for contributing content to the service for others to download, and how will the prices for that contributed content be determined?

They’ll receive a set percentage of the proceeds from each transfer credited to their account, which can then be spent in the system on more music, as well as associated purchases like concert tickets, band shirts, and merchandise.

Users are chosen for compensation based on our user ranking algorithm that sorts users by their contribution to the community. The more a user tags songs, reviews music, and recommends music to others, the higher that user will be ranked, which results in a higher priority for compensation in a transfer.

It has been said that a roll out date for Grooveshark is expected to be sometime in the First Fiscal Quarter of 07,’ are you able to be more specific, and will this be a BETA testing phase or a “street” phase?
Our beta release will slowly add onto existing core functionality from our alpha phase in the next few months, expanding into planned features like event mapping and scheduling, merchandise stores (for artists and us), and ticket sales.

We plan for our private beta release to be available to users who are signed up on Grooveshark.com in early spring.

Is there any indication as to the position of the RIAA or the IFPI thus far, and if not what, in your opinion do you think it will be?

The RIAA and the IFPI’s purpose is to protect the interests of record labels, which includes protecting their profits. So far they have been somewhat inefficient at curving down piracy, and in fact, most record label execs assume file-sharing as lost profit when discussing new business models. Although they have been moving slowly towards new models and means of digital music distribution, their efforts are dwarfed by the impact of actual file-sharing.

This may come as a surprise to some, but it’s clear to us that when you impose DRM, there’s little chance of success—there is no motivation for someone to pay for a restricted song when they can easily get the same song unrestricted (not to mention for free) on illegal networks.

That’s where we come in—instead of policing or punishing file-sharers, we seek to reward them, while at the same time pay the copyright holders, whether it be major/indie labels or independent artists. We are firm believers that a successful business is that whose focus is the customer, and we do this by providing a higher value to our customers which will consequently lead to increased sales for the labels.

Is there a anything else you’d like to mention, follow up on, etc.?

We’ve got lots going on here, and frequent updates will appear on our blog at http://grooveshark.com/blog/.

What I found really fascinating from the interview is the fact that they don’t care how “…users originally acquired their music…all that matters to (them) is that the copyright holders get appropriately paid for their work within (the Grooveshark) marketplace.

This really could drastically alter the face of the music file-sharing landscape in a way that all of its predecessors have failed to do, and that is in at last providing a real alternative to piracy.

Although iTunes is by far the world’s leading online retailer of digital music downloads, reports that a mere fraction of the music on an iPod has been legally purchased means that larger issues are at work, namely selection and DRM concerns.

Not only will Grooveshark’s music be DRM-free but, it will also feature the power of using the combined contributed content of all of its users. Think about that for a minute. Instead of users being limited by what content offering deals Jobs or whomever is able to cook up, Grooveshark users will be able to access a virtually unlimited amount and type of digital music made available by its users. The sky really is the limit.

Also, it can have the effect of actually drawing in users who may lean towards getting their music via BitTorrent or other illegal P2P file-sharing networks with the lure of reaping a monetary benefit for their offerings.

This is, in my opinion, probably the biggest groundbreaking news that Grooveshark has for the world as it means that not only will copyright holders finally get a cut from previously pirated music but, it also has the effect of finally introducing pirates to a legal music downloading service that is actually palatable.

Could Grooveshark finally have the winning combination that has proved so elusive to other online music download services?

digg_url = ‘http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Grooveshark_Q_A:_Exactly_how_will_the_new_service_work_’;

RELATED NEWS AND “HOW TO” GUIDES:
Darn DRM, will our music ever be set free?
Grooveshark, first LEGAL P2P music service
Record companies want ISPs to block access to file-sharing websites
Is 2007 the year the CD died?
Download more than 2000 albums for free on “Jamendo”
Stream thousands of Rock N’ Roll concert classics for free on “Wolfgang’s Vault”
Radio Blog lets you play music for free and put tracks on MySpac
BitTorrent torrent sites & search engines
Azureus – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
Watch The Simpsons, The Office, Jackass, South Park, Lost, X-Men, and More On-Demand For Free
TVU, Free P2P Cable TV

SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”

Last week I wrote an article describing the upcoming start of a revolutionary new P2P music downloading service called Grooveshark.

What makes the new service so revolutionary is that it will apparently compensate BOTH copyright holders as well as participating members of the Grooveshark community.

It will broker music transactions between members, charging for the songs exchanged, and compensating copyright holders and users while providing the convenience and selection of P2P file-sharing in an online music community.

“Our bottom line is value. By bringing the convenience and selection of a peer-to-peer network together with the recommendation power of a community of friends — all the while removing DRM — we can generate revenue to compensate both copyright holders and users,” said Sam Tarantino, 20-year-old founder and CEO of Escape Media Group, the parent company of Grooveshark.

Songs will vary in price, but none will cost more than 99 cents. Grooveshark will then pay the appropriate royalties to music copyright holders by taking commissions from users’ transactions and then also compensate users with free music for community participation such as uploading songs, fixing song tags, flagging unwanted files or reviewing music. Members will be rewarded based on their level of contribution to the Grooveshark community. Additionally, all Grooveshark files will be DRM-free, allowing users to play the songs they purchase on any PC or portable digital music player.

But, what hasn’t been mentioned are the answers to the tough questions like exactly how users will be compensated, what users can contribute, and what the people behind Grooveshark think of how the RIAA and the IFPI will view their new business model.

I had a chance to ask team member Michael Vroegop recently these very questions, and his responses were even better than I had hoped.

How will users preexisting music libraries be incorporated into Grooveshark, and will there be an effort to scan content for pirated music?

There will be a *very* small java-based plugin which will index each user’s music files locally and facilitate p2p file transfers. It will be very simple, as the online parts of the system will do most of the work. Imagine µtorrent’s behavior, with a web-based interface, connected to a rich user-driven community and a host of other features.

How our users originally acquired their music won’t matter to us; all that matters to us is that the copyright holders get appropriately paid for their work within our marketplace. We are embracing the power of p2p while enabling copyright compensation to occur. In a sense, we are legitimizing files that were once deemed “pirated”—once a file enters Grooveshark, any transactions of that file within our system will be legal, paid for, and will compensate the copyright holders.

Precisely how will users be compensated for contributing content to the service for others to download, and how will the prices for that contributed content be determined?

They’ll receive a set percentage of the proceeds from each transfer credited to their account, which can then be spent in the system on more music, as well as associated purchases like concert tickets, band shirts, and merchandise.

Users are chosen for compensation based on our user ranking algorithm that sorts users by their contribution to the community. The more a user tags songs, reviews music, and recommends music to others, the higher that user will be ranked, which results in a higher priority for compensation in a transfer.

It has been said that a roll out date for Grooveshark is expected to be sometime in the First Fiscal Quarter of 07,’ are you able to be more specific, and will this be a BETA testing phase or a “street” phase?
Our beta release will slowly add onto existing core functionality from our alpha phase in the next few months, expanding into planned features like event mapping and scheduling, merchandise stores (for artists and us), and ticket sales.

We plan for our private beta release to be available to users who are signed up on Grooveshark.com in early spring.

Is there any indication as to the position of the RIAA or the IFPI thus far, and if not what, in your opinion do you think it will be?

The RIAA and the IFPI’s purpose is to protect the interests of record labels, which includes protecting their profits. So far they have been somewhat inefficient at curving down piracy, and in fact, most record label execs assume file-sharing as lost profit when discussing new business models. Although they have been moving slowly towards new models and means of digital music distribution, their efforts are dwarfed by the impact of actual file-sharing.

This may come as a surprise to some, but it’s clear to us that when you impose DRM, there’s little chance of success—there is no motivation for someone to pay for a restricted song when they can easily get the same song unrestricted (not to mention for free) on illegal networks.

That’s where we come in—instead of policing or punishing file-sharers, we seek to reward them, while at the same time pay the copyright holders, whether it be major/indie labels or independent artists. We are firm believers that a successful business is that whose focus is the customer, and we do this by providing a higher value to our customers which will consequently lead to increased sales for the labels.

Is there a anything else you’d like to mention, follow up on, etc.?

We’ve got lots going on here, and frequent updates will appear on our blog at http://grooveshark.com/blog/.

What I found really fascinating from the interview is the fact that they don’t care how “…users originally acquired their music…all that matters to (them) is that the copyright holders get appropriately paid for their work within (the Grooveshark) marketplace.

This really could drastically alter the face of the music file-sharing landscape in a way that all of its predecessors have failed to do, and that is in at last providing a real alternative to piracy.

Although iTunes is by far the world’s leading online retailer of digital music downloads, reports that a mere fraction of the music on an iPod has been legally purchased means that larger issues are at work, namely selection and DRM concerns.

Not only will Grooveshark’s music be DRM-free but, it will also feature the power of using the combined contributed content of all of its users. Think about that for a minute. Instead of users being limited by what content offering deals Jobs or whomever is able to cook up, Grooveshark users will be able to access a virtually unlimited amount and type of digital music made available by its users. The sky really is the limit.

Also, it can have the effect of actually drawing in users who may lean towards getting their music via BitTorrent or other illegal P2P file-sharing networks with the lure of reaping a tangible benefit (i.e. concert tickets, shirts, other merchandise) benefit for their offerings.

This is, in my opinion, probably the biggest groundbreaking news that Grooveshark has for the world as it means that not only will copyright holders finally get a cut from previously pirated music but, it also has the effect of finally introducing pirates to a legal music downloading service that is actually palatable.

Could Grooveshark finally have the winning combination that has proved so elusive to other online music download services?

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/Startup_Plans_to_Pay_Music_Pirates’;

RELATED NEWS AND “HOW TO” GUIDES:
Darn DRM, will our music ever be set free?
Grooveshark, first LEGAL P2P music service
Record companies want ISPs to block access to file-sharing websites
Is 2007 the year the CD died?
Download more than 2000 albums for free on “Jamendo”
Stream thousands of Rock N’ Roll concert classics for free on “Wolfgang’s Vault”
Radio Blog lets you play music for free and put tracks on MySpac
BitTorrent torrent sites & search engines
Azureus – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
Watch The Simpsons, The Office, Jackass, South Park, Lost, X-Men, and More On-Demand For Free
TVU, Free P2P Cable TV

SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”

Grooveshark will be a P2P music file-sharing community that will broker music transactions between members. It will be charging for the songs exchanged between members on the site, Grooveshark will compensate copyright holders and users while providing the convenience and selection of P2P file-sharing in an online music community. All Grooveshark files will be DRM-free, allowing users to play the songs they purchase on any PC or portable digital music player.

Grooveshark will supposedly combine the best of P2P file-sharing and online music download sites into one convenient service. Users will be able to browse songs uploaded by other members and then pay to download these DRM-free MP3 files.

Songs will vary in price, but none will cost more than 99 cents. Grooveshark will then pay the appropriate royalties to music copyright holders by taking commissions from users’ transactions and then also compensate users with free music for community participation such as uploading songs, fixing song tags, flagging unwanted files or reviewing music. Members will be rewarded based on their level of contribution to
the Grooveshark community.

“Our bottom line is value. By bringing the convenience and selection of a peer-to-peer network together with the recommendation power of a community of friends — all the while removing DRM — we can generate revenue to compensate both copyright holders and users,” said Sam Tarantino, 20-year-old founder and CEO of Escape Media Group, the parent company of Grooveshark.

Grooveshark will function much like other popular P2P file exchanges. Members can offer their music library for sale through Grooveshark and discover and share new music with other members (only DRM-free MP# or .OGG files).

What will set Grooveshark part from other P2P services, both legal and illegal, is that it will broker music transactions by charging up to 99 cents for each song downloaded and use those proceeds to pay royalties to the copyright holders and reward members for community participation.

“Much of the success of P2P networks can be amplified by a community aspect — allowing users to find someone with similar musical tastes and sample songs from their collection to find new artists or rare and unique songs and genres,” said Tarantino. “By harnessing the power of user-generated content, Grooveshark can bring together online community elements, compensate artists and users and provide customers with control over their music by eliminating unfair DRM schemes,” he added.

Because all Grooveshark files are DRM-free MP3s, they can be played on any computer or digital music player, so users no longer risk losing the ability to play songs in their collection if they wish a different PC or portable digital music device

Grooveshark is expected to roll out in the first quarter of 2007(?), and its prospects for success look quite good.

What I find particularly fascinating is that if its true, if one can really legally upload their music to the service, is that a person can make some money off of their music library or potentially leverage it to add to it.

Grooveshark, and again I’m still kind of skeptical that the RIAA will embrace its method of royalty collection, could quite possibly be the standard for digital music downloads in the future.

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/music/Grooveshark_first_LEGAL_P2P_music_service’;

RELATED NEWS AND “HOW TO” GUIDES:
Darn DRM, will our music ever be set free?
Record companies want ISPs to block access to file-sharing websites
Is 2007 the year the CD died?
Download more than 2000 albums for free on “Jamendo”
Stream thousands of Rock N’ Roll concert classics for free on “Wolfgang’s Vault”
Radio Blog lets you play music for free and put tracks on MySpac
BitTorrent torrent sites & search engines
Azureus – A Beginner’s Guide to BitTorrent Downloading
Watch The Simpsons, The Office, Jackass, South Park, Lost, X-Men, and More On-Demand For Free
TVU, Free P2P Cable TV

SOULXTC: “walkin’ the streets of P2P”