I am not sure about everyone, however, at-least once in your lifetime, you might have downloaded free music from the internet when it is not legal, or at-least had had the urge to do it.
Those days could now be a thing of the past, thanks to FreeAllMusic, whose service will allow users to download free music legally to their computers, albeit after watching some video ads. So does free mean crappy? Not exactly, according to NYT, 2 out of the 4 major music labels have signed up with the service and will provide the full catalog of songs for downloads. They even have a lineup of 6 major advertisers on board, including Coca Cola, Warner Bros and Zappos.
The best part about FreeAllMusic is that, you can legally share the music you download with anyone else. In technical terms, the music you download from the site is DRM free.
Users will have to spend 15-30 seconds to watch a video ad, before they can download the songs. However, that would mean that you save .99 cents per song. Limitations? Yes, there will be limitations as to how much music a user can download, however, there is no indications as to what the limitations are.
This is a win win situation for both advertisers and the users, as advertisers will be assured that their ads will be viewed and users will get free music.
Nevertheless, this system has it’s own flaws. For example, imagine that, I as a user want to download a MP3 file and start the process to download it, the video ad plays, and I walk out to get my coffee. After returning back, I download the free music without even watching the advertisements. Based on this, it is hard to say how long this will be a success, however, the concept is good and may become quite popular. Only time will tell, whether it is a hit or it is a fail.
FreeAllMusic is currently in beta and will open to public in late January. Would you prefer to download free music in lieu of advertisements? Let us know about your thoughts.