Free Streaming Music from Sony BMG at We7
I’ve been registered at We7.com for a while now and it’s a decent site for free music both downloadable and streaming. They’ve gone for an advertising based system with audio adverts being attached to both downloaded and streamed tracks. This might irk some people but it’s not really bothered me as much as I thought it might, I’ve long been a radio listener so I just tune out the adverts and enjoy the music.
I think as the music industry (very slowly) continues to evolve we will see more and more advertisment driven music sites and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. People want to listen to music, they will download it from somewhere else if need be but if record labels make it easy to do for ‘free’ then people will use it. The success of iTunes goes to show people will pay for something if it works and the same thing applies here with the payment being made in a large advertisment audience which at least doesn’t hit you in the pockets immediately. 
With the spread of fast internet connections and always-on fast decent mobile tariffs, streaming is going to become a more and more commonplace method of listening to music so hopefully more of the large record companies will jump on board with ‘free’ advertising based streaming backed with a simple system to purchase downloads.
Anyway enough waffle, today We7 added over 500,000 tracks from Sony BMG’s catalogue, available to stream for nowt but some added audio advertising. Unfortunately I don’t think there is an option to download the Sony BMG tracks for free with adverts like some of the other albums on the site but I’m just happy to have such a large catalogue to choose from.
A really good move for the UK which has been badly served by music sites and hopefully not the last.
Whether it’s Take That, Mark Ronson, The Hoosiers or Leona Lewis that tickles your fancy, today is great news for all music fans because tracks from all of these artists, plus lots more, are available to be selected and listened to immediately for FREE at We7.com.
The new “on demand” music service, launched today at We7.com, gives fans access to over 500,000 tracks from Sony BMG and a wide variety of independent artists and labels, legally, safely and in a format they want.
Music fans can “listen now” to the music they want for free thanks to We7’s unique model which grafts a short audio advert onto the front of each track.
Unlike illegal file sharing sites, the artist and record label will get paid every time music fans listen to the track from the revenue generated by advertising. This provides a viable solution to music piracy and a win-win situation for music fans and artists alike.
In addition, tens of thousands of music tracks can be downloaded to be ‘listened to later’ on their iPod or MP3 player for free with the attached advert, which can be removed after a set number of listens, or an amount of elapsed time.
If fans don’t like ads they can alternatively buy it via We7 without the advert, giving consumers the choice to listen to music in the way they want it.
Music sharing with your best friends is encouraged at We7 as every play is paid for.
Steve Purdham, co-founder and CEO of We7 comments: “To date music fans have really only had two choices to get the music how they want it - buy or steal. Today we’re changing that by putting the fans and artists first to deliver a fresh new alternative. Simply fans get the music they want and now have the choice of paying with their money or paying with a small amount of their time. So everybody is happy”.
Jack Horner, co-Founder and Creative Director, FRUKT adds, “We7 is pushing the boundaries of music delivery to give fans greater access to the music they love whilst ensuring the artists get paid fairly too. Innovative approaches to the monitising of music in this time of change for the traditional music business deserve much praise and support. A major label partnership is a very exciting step forward in delivering a more mainstream offering to music fans.”
Initially, not all the tracks will be available to listen to in all the formats but We7 will continue to work with the music industry to break down the barriers to bring even greater choice to users in the coming months.
