Do you remember Kazaa? Australian owned peer to peer networking site was a beacon for illegal downloads when I was a kid, but now it is embracing the more legal business models that are emerging in the music industry world wide. Subscription services where you pay to have unlimited music downloads are already popular in America now it’s Kazaa’s turn to have a go.
How it works? You pay a monthly fee to have access to a range of music services which includes MP3 music downloads, and ring tones. Kazaa’s rates are around $20 bucks a month and while that is unlimited access to music on your very own PC it is non transferrable to portable music players like your ipod. Kazaa launched with one million tracks from major labels including Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI, and while subscription based services aren’t entirely revolutionary – Nokia Comes with Music was recently launched in Australia – will they help to combat illegal downloading? You still have to pay to have access but not necessary for each individual song, and the degree of access in terms of transfer and ownership is debatable in all these services – at least there are conscious efforts from all to get the artists of these songs paid.
To get your subscription to one million songs hit up Kazaa here
To read about more music strategies hit up newmusicstrategies.com