Former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel partnered up with MediaGraft to launch a new music service on Sunday offering music downloads that are free of DRM and cost you nothing. Free music that’s free of DRM and the artists are getting paid? There has to be a catch, I mean, this is too good to be true, isn’t it? Of course it is, but it’s a step in the right direction. The music from We7 is free, but you’ll have to listen to some “grafted” personalized messages from advertisers.
The idea behind the service is that consumers will share the DRM free music between friends who will then pass it along to other friends, so that advertisers won’t have to do a lot of leg work—you’ll be doing it for them.
According to the official press release the ads will eventually fade away after several play cycles for up to four weeks. The service is still in its early stages so the service seems to lack in certain areas, but as the service becomes more popular and has more traffic, they’ll be able to adjust to fit the needs of consumers.
We7 is touting a “TasteMaker Community” that will determine whether artists should be published and thus be downloadable based on reviews from fans and artists. Sounds like a pretty happening deal and I don’t see any harm in trying it out.
We7 [via Press Release]