Amie Street's pricing, social features attract indie artists

[Jitway]

As the major record labels finally come to terms with DRM-free music, indie labels continue to blaze new paths in the realm of digital distribution. Amie Street, one of the first online music stores that offered DRM-free downloads, has long been a popular destination for independent artists to sell their music, and now even more "top" indie artists are hopping on board to make use of Amie Street's unique pricing structure.

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Interpol, Cat Power, The New Pornographers, Devendra Banhart, Belle and Sebastian, and Architecture In Helsinki are just a few of the artists releasing music through Amie Street today. And like everything else released through Amie Street, everything will start out as a free download. But don't think it'll stay free for long—the more people that download the songs, the higher the price gets. The popularity-driven pricing structure tops out at 98¢ per song, along the same lines as a song you would buy from iTunes or Amazon MP3.

 

* Amazon invests in social music site Amie Street *

 

Amazon's investment in Amie Street seems odd at first, given the company's own DRM-free music business (which also sells music from independent labels). But Amazon could have other things in mind for Amie Street, like incorporating its pricing structure and social networking features into Amazon's own store. "The idea of having customers directly influence the price of songs is an interesting and novel approach to selling digital music," Amazon's senior VP Jeff Blackburn said in a statement last August. Might Amazon be interested in buying out Amie Street altogether? Our magic 8-ball says "Outlook good."

 

 

 

I myself like this service and have used it quite a few times. I am always for supports acts that actually get most of the money instead of none of the money.

 

Anyone else here use this?

 

 

Read the full story HERE

Edited February 27, 2008 by Jitway