jamendo
This post has introductory audio; press play below, have a listen, then read on.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
(t r y ^ d, Intro (a.k.a., The Samplist) from Public Domain)
I’m generally not optimistic about the direction that the music industry is going. Current digital media distribution models are squashing my love of music bit by bit.
I keep telling myself that it’s about enjoying the music, the end product, and not how it gets to you or how you found out about it.
I’ve said before, I’m in love with the concept of digital media distribution. I think the opportunities for creative ways to sell and consume are endless and I’m very excited about it as a concept.
The issue, in my view, is that the major labels are destroying liberties that we once had as music lovers. DRM and copy protection is just plain bad for the end consumer as it’s a step backwards.
Yes, I understand that record companies want to protect their investments. So maybe DRM, etc is the price we have to pay as a compromise so that most music can enter the digital age – we’ll have to wait and see. Or maybe we have seen and I’m just too blind. After all, the legal online music market is estimated to be worth US$1.1 B.
So, in amongst all of this doom and gloom. The other week, Alex alerted me to an online music distribution system called jamendo (http://www.jamendo.com/en/).
What is jamendo? From their site:
jamendo is a new model for artists to promote, publish, and be paid for their music.
On jamendo, the artists distribute their music under Creative Commons licenses. In a nutshell, they allow you to download, remix and share their music freely. It’s a “Some rights reserved” agreement, perfectly suited for the new century.
These new rules make jamendo able to use the new powerful means of digital distribution like Peer-to-Peer networks such as BitTorrent or eMule to legally distribute albums at near-zero cost.
jamendo users can discover and share albums, but also review them or start a discussion on the forums. Albums are democratically rated based on the visitors’ reviews. If they fancy an artist they can support him by making a donation.
I ventured off to jamendo last week sometime and I must say, I feel so much better about music all of a sudden. jamendo is about empowering you, the music lover with choice, something which you are losing more and more of every day.
Choice? Yes choice! You see, you can go to jamendo, and listen to all the music that you want legally, for free. That’s right, no legal obligation to pay a cent. On top of that, if you so wish, you can mix the music and do what every you want to with it (depending on license granted), legally. All because the music over at jamendo is licensed under Creative Commons.
Now, the artists have faith that if you like their music you’ll contribute some funds to them. jamendo takes a very small cut (50c) of any donation and the rest goes to the artist.
Doesn’t this feel right? This is how you’re supposed to discover new music, on your terms.
There are plenty of artists on jamendo, so I’m discovering the ones I like (and dislike) gradually. However, since I’ve been using jamendo, I’ve fallen for two artists in particular.
These guys are so cool. The music is fresh and progressive. You can rest assured that their success on jamendo is due to the quality of the music and not due to some marketing push from some major record label.
Some sample tracks . . .
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Silence, Cellule from L’autre endroit
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
t r y ^ d, Our Lives Change from Public Domain
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Silence, Etoile noire from Silence
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
t r y ^ d, The Final Rewind from Public Domain
Incidentally, isn’t it great that I can legally put music that I love on my blog without fear of ARIA or RIAA etc?
jamendo is worth investing time, money and effort into and I highly recommend you visit.
-dg
Recent Comments