Next week, a new music sharing site is launching called ShareMusic, which is trying to turn the whole artist vs. fan vs. hated major record label paradigm on its head. The idea and bear with me cause in two sentences its going to be cloyingly earnest is that the reason the average guy is stealing music is because he couldnt give two shits about the fate of the large entertainment conglomerate that almost always owns the rights to it. As they explain themselves on their website:
A song is not worth a dollar. But it is worth a life... By giving music away (for charity, rather than to benefit corporations) ShareMusic makes people value music again. iTunes believes each song is worth a dollar. Most kids today think a song is worth a mouseclick. ShareMusic believes that by associating downloading music with giving to charity (rather than with large corporations who most people instinctively hate), and by creating friends who share music, rather than consumers who consume it, ShareMusic utterly transforms the landscape of music.
The idea, then, is that the site will provide a bunch of tools for users to share music donated by various artists, and if someone along the listening chain likes it, they donate it to charity. Well see. It launches October 15.
A song is not worth a dollar. But it is worth a life... By giving music away (for charity, rather than to benefit corporations) ShareMusic makes people value music again. iTunes believes each song is worth a dollar. Most kids today think a song is worth a mouseclick. ShareMusic believes that by associating downloading music with giving to charity (rather than with large corporations who most people instinctively hate), and by creating friends who share music, rather than consumers who consume it, ShareMusic utterly transforms the landscape of music.
The idea, then, is that the site will provide a bunch of tools for users to share music donated by various artists, and if someone along the listening chain likes it, they donate it to charity. Well see. It launches October 15.