Free and legal music downloads

There's no such thing as a free lunch. What there most definitely is is a lot of truth to that statement. If you're getting something like cable or music downloads for free, what you're doing is almost certainly illegal and it's probably taking away from the livelihood of someone who works just as hard as you do. OK, what it is mostly doing is reducing some ridiculously wealthy executive's bottom line, and I'm not one to guilt-trip people on that tip--especially if the company happens to be Comcast (don't even get me started). Still, you shouldn't steal if you can help it because you can never really be sure of who you might be hurting. Hmm, wait a minute...did I just imply that it's OK to hurt certain individuals of questionable character? No, don't hurt anybody--we're all above that. But I digress.

The point is that there are some companies that are trying to make your (digital) life a little easier--a little more hassle-free--and all while encouraging consumers to do the right thing. One such company is the recently launched music venture, We7. The service, which is set to get rolling sometime this month, will offer free music downloads that can be played on any MP3 player. And, yes, of course there's a catch; after all, a major goal of the site is to make sure that artists get paid for their work and that can't happen without some sort of income. In this case, the money will come from advertisers. This is hardly a new notion--Slacker will use ads to fund its free on-the-go content--but We7 is the first that I've come across to offer an entire catalog of downloadable tunes with no player restrictions. (There are sites, such as our own CNET Download.com Music, that offer a limited selection of free downloadable MP3s.)

Every song acquired from We7's catalog will come with a "message" attached to the beginning that will be 10 seconds or less. For each ad-supported track that you download, you'll be presented with the option of acquiring an ad-free version of the same track four weeks after downloading. To me, this is the most compelling feature of the service--that's quite a deal, wouldn't you say? Of course, I'm curious how the company plans to prevent users from chopping off the intro message on their own with some simple audio-editing software. (If you have any ideas how they might implement preventive measures, please post them in the comment section.) If you want to skip out on the ads without the four-week waiting period--and without any questionable finagling--We7 will also be selling the tracks outright. The site also briefly mentions the availability of videos, but it offers no details.

I'm still waiting to hear back from reps at We7 as to what labels will be represented, whether the content is truly unprotected, and if the music will come in MP3 format. MP3 is the logical assumption, as the site specifically mentions compatibility with any MP3 player, but you never know. So far, this impending service seems pretty interesting, and it could be quite successful if it manages to be both extremely easy to use and gets all the major labels on board. But what do you think: good idea or rubbish?

Update: The audio tracks will be in MP3 format and upon original submission (by artists or by users who recommend them) will be at least 128kbps. Should the song be successful, it will be made available at 192kbps for free tracks and 320kbps for paid tracks.

[not4no1]

Overlap the intro...

Radio stations have been doning this for decades. Overlap the song & the add for a few seconds. Even with editing software you would end up with:
A: (non edited) Full song with Advert overlapped
B: (edited) most of the song, but the beginning cut.

[alexanderqcarey]

Change Start Time

in iTunes I think you can say you want the track to start 10 seconds into the
mp3 to avoid all the hip-hop intro's for instance. Im sure you could just do
that for the ad. Either way-there will be a crack for it and this company will
end up going out of business.

[imacpwr]

Free Music..?? WHAT for music..?????

I looked EVERYwhere on the We7 site, it proudly says: "Music downloads: free,
safe, legal and artists get paid!"
Music and artists.. ok, WHAT music and WHICH artists...?!?!?! Not a single name
of any song, group, artist or record label is mentioned on that site. So is this
just a bunch of hype for some new "Indie" music site or are we talking REAL
music here..? You know, like EVERY song, group, artist or record label there ever
was...????

[the4starish]

Do it right!

I checked out the site and they have a few Dave Matthews Band, Bannanarama, and Hall and Oates songs on it. As for the ads, they will most likely overlap like the radio, or somehow come up with a "checksum". Or perhaps they feel that if you're going to find a legal means of getting a song, you're not going to remove what makes it legal. Because if you're going through the trouble of editing the song to make it ad-free. why not just acquire it from the traditional illegal means, and do it right.

[invisible21]

This could revolutionize the music industry!

It's a catch-22 because it needs the support of the major labels...but if this thing catches on, it could easily put the hurt on the big record companies. This could be a magic combination of iTunes and eMusic if done right. It appears that, while downloading major label tunes, the service will suggest lesser or unknown artists that fit your tastes. This will give exposure to new bands without the need for record companies to push them. And since, according to the we7 site, the artist is paid per download, they can get the money they deserve. I think that the previous idea of overlapping the ad onto the beginning of the track is probably the best solution as any other method would quickly be cracked. I mean, come on, if someone can't put up with short ads for a month then I think most people would see that as unreasonable. This idea is win-win-win for consumers, the site, and the artists.

[stiv bators]

How is this better than download.com music?

Um, your own site Download music has WAAAAY more free music than this one. We has barely anything. Looks pretty bogus to me.

[tomlom]

WE is temporarily not accepting members

When I attempted to register at the WE site, I was emailed a message that my "pre-registration" was done, and I would be sent an activation message when they were again accepting new members.

[batman823]

overlapping, editing, etc

While the WE site may simply overlap the advetisement on the beginning of the song to prevent the simple editing out of the advertisement, they might just rely on people being lazy. People are lazy by nature. If the ad is only 5-10 seconds long, it's not that big of a deal to hear when compared to the length of a song. Most songs range from 3-5 minutes, so that little bit of time spent on an ad wouldn't be worth the time, to me at least, to edit out. I could concievably download thousands of songs through this program. I would not consider it worth my time to go through and edit out the first ten seconds of each song. Some would, but it wouldn't be a loss for anybody.

The people who would go through the trouble of editing all those songs are the people who wouldn't listen to the advertisement anyway. They wouldn't go out and buy the product that's advertised and would resist any form of suggestion from said ad's

I think this is a great compromise. It's a good way of supporting lesser-known bands. Not to mention the fact that it would persuade people from using the illegal means of downloading music. It removes the fear of any criminal charges. The fat-cats get a little money out of it but the average joe searching for free music would feel safe in downloading from this free site. The only people that this would hurt is the record stores. It would remove some of the customers frrom thier stores.

[StevePurdham]

Quick note from Steve CEO of We7

Hi Guys,
I'm Steve Purdham CEO of We7 and I enjoyed the threads. Just thought I would jump in with a couple of answers and points.

Firstly as we said when we launched we would build our music database significantly over teh coming months. So far we have made some great signings with V2, mTunes in Europe and over the next few weeks you will see us announcing more. We are getting access to so many great tracks that it will take us a while to provision and upload so please be patient with us.

Secondly, we are using MP3 as the file format so it really is open to play on any device or player. The technical point you make about stripping the ads is valid but misses the point - if you are going to do that then you can get the tracks you want easier than coming to We7. The whole point is giving a little time so you get the music and people get paid for teh service. Some people will do it but I think most people get what we are trying to do.

Finally we did stop membership for a few days while we went to the Beta but that opened up very quickly so please if you got that check your junk mail folder as we are open.

Thanks for everything, join our journey anytime

Steve

[ejlarge]

Steve,

I can appreciate the fact that you took the time to respond to the posts. One little thing, just for credibility sake. Either A. type your response in Word, spell check it, then cut and paste it on here....or, B. pay attention to what you type, when you misspell a word on here it will underline it in red. So THE (not teh) next time you are typing something whether its a public forum or a business proposition, take two seconds to look it over before you hit submit. You only get one chance at a first impression..... Good luck on your ventures..