These Uploaders Get Paid – Not Sued
 

SML Ships Weed File-Sharing Software, Offers $5 to New Users
Press Release

Shared Media Licensing, Inc. released Weed Media Activator version 2.0 today. The free Windows software is a central component in the company's innovative distribution and promotion service, which pays Internet users to share music files.

This release updates Weed's preview version released last August. The software enables you to purchase Weed files you've downloaded from web sites or peer-to-peer networks. Any Weed file can be played 3 times for free. After that, you're invited to purchase the song at a price set by the artist. Purchasing a song unlocks it and allows copying to CD or portable players.

The most revolutionary part of the concept is this: buying a song can make you money if people you share files with also buy it. When you share a Weed file with friends who buy it, 20% of the sale price is credited to you on each sale. Sales at the next two levels down earn 10% and 5%, respectively. 50% of every sale is credited directly to the artist or other rightsholder. The remaining 15% goes to SML.

New Weed users receive a free $5 balance in their accounts so they can try the system out. Most files cost about $1.

SML President John Beezer says that Weed's service finally puts artists and listeners on the same side. "If you try to distribute music contained in Weed files in an unauthorized fashion, you're not only hurting the artist, you're hurting yourself. You lose the opportunity to share in future sales."

"Weed recognizes the role of the music fan in supporting new artists and distributing great music to people who will enjoy it." says Beezer, "Word of mouth has always been the primary means of introducing new music -- Weed encourages and rewards it."

"Ultimately, Weed puts more control in the hands of artists and fans. If you discover a band you're passionate about, you can buy their songs and send them to your friends. The artist gets paid, you get paid, and the people who got the music to you get paid. Everyone's happy."

More information, including software download link, the current "Weed Top 10" and a list of web sites offering Weed files, is available on SML's web site at www.weedshare.com. Details, downloadable graphics and other press materials are available from: www.weedshare.com/web/press.html.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/...&newsLang =en

something sounds pretty good about this...

if it catches on as a way to distribute new music..i would give it a go for getting newly released stuff..
if it really wants to get going it should consider 50c a track..if you get 5 at a time..or something?
try and undercut the 99c standard price that seems to have been set..

I sounds like a good way to get musicians involved in the distribution end of the business, and it's possible that they'd be smart enough to set prices based on popularity and demand. Earning $.50 per song is better than they get paid for CD sales. Still though, I would hope that if I paid for a song then at least 90% of the sale would go to the artist, not just 50%. Some users will get creative and start advertizing songs for sale, the system will be flooded with A&R guys scrambling to get their 20% cut. On the other hand, it's the ultimate leech control tool.

This is a great idea for muscians. But who really has control of the pricing? WIll the prices claim back to the level of CDs?