Andre Yoskowitz
7 Mar 2007 20:57
Amie Street, a web based music downloading service that started up last July has recently come into the public eye by signing a new deal with the Nettwerk Music Group, a group with very well known names such as the Barenaked Ladies, Paul Van Dyke, and Avril Lavigne. Up until this point, Amie Street had sold music from independent artists and without DRM.
For those unfamiliar with Amie Street, the company is very unique. It not only offers DRM-free music but its pricing system is set up differently than that of its competitors, most notably iTunes. In their system, all the musc listed on the site starts out free, but as more and more people download the songs the price of the tracks goes up until it hits its peak of 98¢. The company says that it takes about 98 downloads for the price to hit 98¢. The Barenaked Ladies music selections have already hit that point and are listed at 98¢ apiece. Nettwerk's other artists are to be added over the upcoming months.
Amie Street, unlike iTunes, forces you to buy credits before you can purchase any tracks, but it also (like iTunes) allows you to choose whether to buy a full album or individual tracks. The album prices are affected by the prices of the single tracks so in reality you can purchase a DRM-free album for under a dollar if you get in early.
Hopefully many other record labels and groups will look at the sales of the Nettwerk artists and perhaps decide that DRM is not the way to go.
Source:
Arstechnica