Weed Distribution Model

WE ARE VERY IMPRESSED by a new music distribution model called Weed. Using Weed artists can distribute songs freely over peer-to-peer networks and fans can listen to each song 3 times with no charge. If you like what you hear, you can buy the song for 99 cents– %50 goes to the artist, 35% goes to the people who shared the file (seriously), and Weed takes 15%. It uses DRM (digital rights management), but we’ve been won over by the cleverness of the model. While all the other so-called business models are trying to fight or manipulate p2p, Weed takes advantage of it. And as a general rule, you can tell the shady online music ventures from the respectable ones simply by seeing whether they are honest and open about where the money goes (Apple, we’re still waiting to hear from you). Try Weed.

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Folk-pop musician Scott Andrew and the Walkingbirds has teamed up with Downhill Battle to support the victims of the RIAA lawsuits. When someone buys a copy of his new CD "Where I’ve Been", they can choose to pay extra above the $5 cost to be donated to the Peer-to-Peer Legal Defense Fund. Many people are giving double the asking price and Scott has already raised almost $300 for the fund. This is a great example of what happens when musicians have a real connection to their fans– support flows.

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As you can see, we’ve started expanding the site (horizontally, for now). Forums will be added soon, we’ve been tinkering away. By the way, is anyone interested in doing some outreach at the CMJ music festival in New York? Drop us a line.