Another record label has unchained its content. Can iTunes take it? Iain S Bruce reports
Canada's leading privately owned record label and artist management company, Nettwerk, has announced that it will give users on-demand access to listen freely to the labels’ content.
Responsible for managing Barenaked Ladies, Avril Lavigne and some of North America's biggest artists, the label has struck a deal with Silicon Valley-based Mercora to implement music “search” technology that enables legal listening on-demand.
Under the terms of the deal, music fans will be able to listen to Nettwerk artists for free, browse custom-designed Artist Spotlight pages with biography, discography, pictures, videos, and artist website links, and purchase music downloads in open MP3 formats. The company will also provide exclusive content such as MP3 downloads and music videos.
Coming hard on the heels of the launch of the free Spiral Frog download service, the announcement would seem to add further momentum to the growth of competition in this burgeoning marketplace.
A few months ago iTunes seemed unstoppable and yet suddenly, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. If music labels continue to embrace the concept of free sample and advertiser supported downloads, Apple's days at the top of the digital music business may well be numbered.
