IntoMusic Showcases Indy Music

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.intomusic.co.uk/' target='_blank'>http://www.intomusic.co.uk/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"IntoMusic features legal download music from the independent scene. You can play all the songs in Low-Fi (similar to radio quality, 60 seconds) the full version music downloads are of higher sound quality encoded at (128 kbps +). Each artist offers free mp3 downloads, simply search through the music by a number of search features including browse and download factor. If you'd like more music you can buy further tracks for as low as £0.47. Or Subscribe and get unlimited downloads for only £4.95 a month."</i><br /><br />If exploring independent music wiggles your mouse, IntoMusic is a good place to start looking. They have a lot of music to chose from, and they have an interesting <a href="http://www.intomusic.co.uk/scripts/downloadfactor.asp">Top 20 Chart</a> that's based on the "download factor" - how many times a song's preview clip has been downloaded - rather than sales. Interesting approach, but if everyone does what I did (click on the top five results to see why people are clicking on the top five results), the results may not be as meaningful as one would think. ;-) I think this site will have a very difficult time gaining any international sales, because their pricing is very UK-specific. Individual tracks start at £0.47, but most seem to be in the £0.60 range - which works out to be about $1.50 Canadian or $1.20 USD. I can get expensively-produced mainstream music for $1.19 CAN, so why would I pay 30 cents more for indy music? The strength of UK currency is working against them here, as is the grindingly harsh 32kbps MP3 preview stream. :? But hey, take a look and decide for yourself. ;-)

[sojourner753]

I can get expensively-produced mainstream music for $1.19 CAN, so why would I pay 30 cents more for indy music?

Well, not to start any kind of fiery music preference debate, but some may say that you're actually paying $.30 more for music thats actually worth listening to. :wink:

But I agree its pretty expensive compared to other online services. Still, its only $12.00 for 10 tracks. I'm sure Borders would be much higher.

[Jason Dunn]

Well, not to start any kind of fiery music preference debate, but some may say that you're actually paying $.30 more for music thats actually worth listening to. :wink:

Sure, I hear ya, but the quality of the music has never related to the cost of it. The cost should be based on the cost of producing that music. Thus, indy music should be cheaper to buy because it's less expensive to produce. That doesn't usually hold in the physical world where CD duplication costs made indy CDs $20 at concerts, but in the digital world? Hell, they should be 30 cents a track - that would encourage people to explore new types of music. Making it more expensive than mainstream music? Recipie for failure.

But I agree its pretty expensive compared to other online services. Still, its only $12.00 for 10 tracks. I'm sure Borders would be much higher.

Nah, it's still expensive. I can get a full CD off Napster for $9.99 CAN, which is about $8 USD. A mainstream music CD here is about $12-$15 CAN, and for that price I get cover art, a physical product, and much higher quality.

[sonicspill]

Hi,

This is Gavin the founder of the site www.intomusic.co.uk , thanks for your comments, but I just wanted to set this straight, your all going on the £0.60 or $1.14 price which is if you only buy 1 track. :o

I think if you look a little closer, your find that if you buy multiple tracks say 10 it costs £0.50 or $0.95, for 20 tracks it costs £0.47 which is approx $0.89. Which is cheaper than the mainstream sites even in the US and Canada. Also £4.95 or $9.22 per month for UNLIMITED downloads has yet to be matched for value, also your not renting the music you can keep it.

In the UK itunes charges £0.99 $1.80 or napster £0.79 $1.50, a UK buyer will save a lot with us.

I don't want us to get bogged down with debating money and paying to hear new music, the primary aim of the site is to get the music heard and we offer at least one free download from each artist. If people want more they have to support the artist by buying their music. The bottom of each artist page explains the pricing structure. I agree a conversion chart to different currencies may help.

I don't want to treat music like a commodity though and the cost of recording or distribution does help to decrease the costs I agree, but intellectual property is unique to the individual that creates it, for example "Van Gogh used to sell his paintings for the cost of the materials to produce the paintings" But this didn't include the ideas,energy, effort and time spent creating it, was that right?

Jason, I don't think by decreasing the costs to 30 cents, as you say, is going to make any difference, as to whether people pay for indie music or not, also with niche music the number people who are going to be interested in this music is going to be smaller, therefore the artists are not going to make it up in terms of sales if we charge that sort of money.

Also I don't understand you comments about the download factor basically it's "What % of people hearing the music downloaded It!!!" it's far more refined than just searching for the most downloaded tracks because an artist who's been on the site for 3 years will have far more downloads than those who have been on for a month. It's a good way of working out if the majority thought it was worth downloading, you can also refine the search via genre to your taste. It's just another way filtering the music and aiding people in their search.

Anyway please have a listen to the tracks there's not signup involved.

Thanks

Gavin

[sojourner753]

I just visited the site. Its pretty nice. It seems that you've had quite a bit of traffic already.

As to the top 20 list, if I understood Jason correctly, I believe he was speaking about how useful the list would be if they were based on samples.

If they were based on downloads, then thats a different story. :)