Andre Yoskowitz
31 Aug 2008 17:26
Limewire has announced that they have added 1.2 million legal, DRM-free tracks to their offical store, with the tracks starting at $0.27 USD per track.
As a P2P device, Limewire is by far the most popular with some reports saying as high as 18 percent of all personal computers have the application installed. Today's news however marks the third time they have expanded their legal download store, this time signing a deal with "The Orchard“, a distributor of 1.2 million songs from Indie labels.
Greg Scholl, President and CEO of The Orchard, added, “We’re pleased to support the LimeWire store, a retail offering that protects copyrights while fairly compensating artists and labels. This exciting entrant to digital retail offers us a unique opportunity to connect our clients with an online audience of potentially millions of new customers.”
Although tracks are $.99 cents individually if you have a "Platinum" subscription plan, you can download 75 tracks for $19.99 a month, for an equivalent of $.27 cents per track.
Although the store has been struggling since its inception it does offer an interesting marketing opportunity for labels because the store is linked to results in the P2P portion of the application. Users will be linked to buy the song if they search for one that is available from the store. However, the Big 4 record labels are hesitant to sign on especially with Limewire's past.
“LimeWire Store development has been running at full speed to provide a number of exciting new features, and we are enjoying the opportunity to improve our user community’s experience via the feedback they’ve provided,” said Jason Pelzer, the LimeWire store Technical Director.