How much advertising will people tolerate in exchange for free music? And is advertising more friendly to the ear if it's personally delivered by the artist? Startup music site operator
TrueAnthem Corp. is the latest to test a new ad-supported music model in which artists create brief ads that include a sponsor's name, running as voice-overs that introduce each of the artist's songs. Users can download those
DRM-less tracks for free, either from the TrueAnthem.com site or from its widgets, but the advertisements never go away -- no matter how many times the track is copied and passed around.
Most free/ad-supported music sites provide streams or downloads coupled with banner advertisements or periodic ad insertions between songs. Social music sites such as Imeem Inc. primarily offer ad-supported streaming on demand, while
SpiralFrog Inc. allows downloads with DRM in exchange for watching advertisements online. Those sites tend to carry a significant amount of major-label and better-known independent-label content, while TrueAnthem expects to cater primarily to independent artists.
CEO Brad Barnes says the company imagines itself as an agent that will connect artists with appropriate sponsors, cultivating brand images around an artist's audience demographic. TrueAnthem pays artists a flat rate per download, although Barnes wouldn't say what the going rate is; the money comes from both the introductory audio ads and traditional banners.
Barnes says the company's widgets are designed to proliferate among social networks, and contain their own transaction software for consumers willing to pay for ad-free songs. Apart from viral widget adoption, TrueAnthem doesn't offer much in the way of music discovery tools, which could be a major blind spot for a company that expects to carry a great deal of music by unsigned artists. Currently, the site carries music by name acts such as Nine Inch Nails and Hootie & The Blowfish, although once its self-serve publishing tool becomes available, TrueAnthem will likely be populated by hopefuls rather than artists with large audiences.
To my ears, no single advertisement integrated into an artist's track was all that irritating -- each one sounded roughly like a radio DJ giving station identification as each song began. But the cumulative effect becomes bothersome over time, which could either spur listeners to buy more songs or deter them from using TrueAnthem at all.
Angel investors have provided $2 million in funding to TrueAnthem. Although Barnes declines to identify the angels, he says there are "very few" and that they come from both inside and outside the music industry. He may seek a Series A early next year.
- Paul BonanosSee June 27 post on SpiralFrog from Tech Confidential
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