There’s an online music service I’ve recently been made aware of, and while it’s an interesting model, I’m not really sure what I make of it. So I’m setting you guys on it.
Jamendo is a membership site on which artists can upload their own music, and audiences can download and listen to it. And that’s pretty much it. Users can make their own playlists, and the site has a built-in player, but it’s basically as simple as thousands of musicians letting audiences download their albums entirely for free.
On the face of it, it looks like a nice, harmless gift-economy of music on which artists are hoping for wide acceptance, and audiences are hoping for good quality, free and legal music. It looks like it’s sufficiently removed from the mainstream music industry to not make too much of a ripple, but I get the sense that there’s more to it than that.
I’ve only had a bit of experience with it, but I was surprised at the quality of what I heard. Not only was it good musicianship, but some of these acts had clearly spent proper money on their recordings.
It’s not like Garageband, which is pretty much pitched as a leg-up to the ‘proper’ music industry. This seems to be entirely separate from that business, and comfortably so.
So I’m curious: what do you guys think of this?
Jamendo is only stocking music under Creative Commons licences. That’s why there is no maintream act and this explain the quality of some bands using the service.
I like the player, but the artist pages are really crap. There’s minimal information and most of it looks like it’s been scraped.
It seems more like a storage site, than something with real community.
Actually, we’ve been quite amazed by the response we got putting ARCTIC’s two-song EP up on Jamendo – there really does seem to be a fairly active community there (mostly in France). People take the time to listen and to write reviews, recommendations and comments, which is more than can be said for most of the music sites out there, where your “artist page” sits abandoned like an old billboard on a rundown road. I think there’s real appreciation of the fact that the music is given away under CC licensing.
Now, you can’t put just a few tracks up – it’s got to be a full album – so it’s a bit of a commitment, and as usual you can’t really measure what the return is. But it’s got some things going for it.
I think it is a viable outlet for artists. What struck me was the same thing that strikes me each time something like Magnatune.com or Jamendo.com surfaces: Saturation.
I think my visit to Jamendo has convinced me to begin writing a proper paper/blog about my concerns about saturation. If I manage to actually finish such a thing I will make sure and drop a line here at NMS.
Jamendo is integrated into Rhythmbox, so I find it really easy to use (apart from the loose genre system, which is terribly repetitive).
The quality does seem to vary from the really very good to the quite atrocious. Some artists seem to use it as a way of promoting their albums by releasing a couple of tracks, other seem to release EPs and albums in full.
I’ve come across some really nice music there which I would not have come across without Jamendo but whether it’s a site that could lead a band to greater notice (even from A&R boys and girls) is questionable imo.
hmmm, I’ll check it out and see if it can help Mandyleigh Storm’s music and profile. Will get back to you with the results.
Hi all, I am recently attempting to get more serious about my blogging – and not worrying too much about presentation, just content right now, but I am just commenting to let readers know I am kinda “responding to this post” or “continuing this conversation†over at my blog.
http://kurbpromotion.wordpress.com/2007/11/06/online-music-promotion-44-apps-and-critical-mass/
My approach to online promotion is attempting to be more practical, and more intellectually digestible for everyday artists. my full time profession is in implementing budget online promotion strategies for artists and creative entrepreneurs at http://www.kurb.co.nz
Cheers, Matt @ kurb