Article: SpiralFrog Misses the Point of Digital Music?

[mouser]

When Free Isn’t Free -  SpiralFrog Misses the Point of Digital Music by Mark Glaser, 12:10PM

First, let’s congratulate the traditional music-on-wax industry for trying something new in digital music — outside of suing its customers. The largest of the music companies, Universal Music Group, announced it would offer free music downloads through a startup called SpiralFrog supported by advertising. The other big music companies are negotiating with SpiralFrog, too. Clap, clap, clap.

But before you hurt your hands with all that applause, you might want to look at the fine print of this deal. According to the New York Times and bloggers covering the story, there are some “gotchas” with the free SpiralFrog service, due to launch in December:

+ You must listen to a 90-second audio commercial for every tune you download.
+ Your music will be in the protected WMA format, not playable on iPods.
+ You will not be able to burn a CD with the music, but can listen to songs on a limited number of computers or MP3 players.
+ You will have to return to the SpiralFrog site to view ads each month or your downloaded songs will expire.

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/

[Music_Guy]

I can't talk too much as I have trouble convincing some of my friends to actually buy CD's they like but when did we all get so picky to even complain on how 'free' music was being put out. Spiral Frog at that time was trying to do something awesome and let people listen to music for free, and people turn around and complain they have to listen to advertisements or can't burn the songs and completely bypass ever compensating the artists themselves who work their whole lives trying to make a living writing and performing music. It's like giving hell to someone for giving you a used lawn mower that you have to crank a few times before it actually starts. It's free, take it the way it comes or go buy it.

Just my 2 cents.

[allen]

Ungh. I'd rather just pay 80-99 cents for a track and have it MINE, DRM-free and fully portable.

90 seconds per track is just insane.  That's far, far worse than over the air radio.

[SKesselman]

...and completely bypass ever compensating the artists themselves who work their whole lives trying to make a living writing and performing...

-Music_Guy (December 19, 2008, 03:39 PM)

hmm...not sure about this. My ex is a musician, he wants pre-recorded music to be free. He makes the majority of his income on the road, and apparently royalties aren't worth much. Perhaps it depends on the type of music, etc. but when he explained it to me, it was clear that if anyone was guilty of neglecting the artist, it was the record companies, not the fans.

Next time I talk to him, I'll get & post the breakdown. It's interesting. I think the revenue for him comes out to $.03 per song.