If you're a struggling muso looking to hit the big time, you may just have got some help from an unexpected quarter – Amazon.
According to a report on BetaNews yesterday, the popular on-line book seller is making its DRM-free digital music download service available to any musician that would like to publish their creations.
Part of the Amazon-owned CreateSpace self-publishing service, the ability to offer a digital download via the popular Amazon MP3 Download site is available to anyone capable of providing their music in 320Kb/s MP3 format, uncompressed 16-bit AIFF, or failing that via the snail-mailing of a master CD. The songs will be made available for purchase on Amazon.com almost immediately, for which the company will make a fixed charge per copy plus a percentage. Royalties earned will be paid out monthly, providing the $20 minimum is met.
Dana LoPiccolo-Giles, co-founder of CreateSpace, says that the move will give independent musicians "the freedom to make their music available in both digital and physical formats on Amazon.com, and to earn royalties through both channels without an investment in inventory or setup costs."
This move brings mainstream digital music publication into the reach of any band willing to, currently, sell to the US only – the Amazon MP3 store is unavailable to us poor Brits across the pond – and joins existing CreateSpace services including more traditional on-demand publication of books and CDs.
Moves are also afoot to bring self-published high-definition video to the service alongside the existing standard-definition offering, although this is still described as 'coming soon' on the CreateSpace website.
Do we have any budding musicians reading who will be seeing if they can't monetise their talents, or is it fairly useless until Amazon extends the download service beyond the US? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Amazon opens MP3 store to indies
Posted by Engeneer Moris at 2:51 PM
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