Balogun+blog+analysis

TO: //Proximity // media teams FROM: Robiat Balogun SUBECT: Free music downloads ‘easier than stealing' DATE: 1/4/2010

We were asked to analyze a blog post or news item to help us prepare Proximity's winter survey. Below I discuss a //New York Times // article describing a new service that lets you download music for free after watching selected commercials. I suggest we ask TU students how much music they download illegally every month and whether or not this kind of service will encourage them to download legal free music.

FreeAllMusic.com offers a new way for users to get free music that lets advertisers micro target users. While users are waiting for their music to be downloaded, a selected advertisement will play for about 15-30seconds. When downloading music, the user selects from a variety of possible ads to view, the company whose ad is being viewed will then purchase the music being downloaded. The popular site, Hulu.com was the inspiration for this new way of downloading digital music files. Hulu provides users a way to watch free television shows and other videos after viewing short commercials.
 * What is FreeAllMusic.com **

FreeAllMusic.com has already launched a test version of the site back in December 22 and hopes to go public sometime this month. While there will be some limitations on how much music is downloaded during one session or even monthly, nothing has yet to be confirmed. According to the //New York Times // article, two of the four major record labels (not yet identified) and six advertisers including Coca-Cola, Warner Brothers Television and Zappos.com have signed on to the project.


 * Why FreeAllMusic.com's service is important? **

The service provided by FreeAllMusic.com encourages users to become more receptive to the message provided by the ads selected. Services offering free music online are increasingly overshadowing the purchase cds.  Many of these sites include video commercials or banner ads during the stream or download of music.

FreeAllMusic.com also correlates users profile with the ad selected and the music being downloaded. FreeAllMusic.com offers users shareable downloads that will work on Apple devices as well as PCs and requires no software.


 * Questions to ask TU mobile users **

In order to determine what TU music fans think of these services, the following questions will shed light on how beneficial the service will be to students.
 * · How often a month do you illegally download music?
 * · How often a month do you stream music from companies such as IMEEM or Pandora?
 * · Would you be interested a service such as FreeAllMusic.com?

__Reference__

Newman, Andrew A. (2009, December 30) With Ads, Music Downloads Sing a New Tune. //New York Times //, B3. Retrieved Jan. 4, 2009, from [].