Today, micropayment company BitPass launched Mperia.com, an online retail store for independent musicians. Mperia's Joshua Ellis blogs the lowdown:
(full disclosure: Josh is an occasional contributor to Mindjack)
There are no daily, weekly, monthly or yearly recurring fees; we only take a percentage of each sale, so we don't make any money unless the artist does.
There are no exclusivity clauses, no length-based contracts. If you don't like Mperia, you can remove your account and your work at any time. You can sell your MP3s anywhere else you like, for any price you like. You can compete with yourself.
And here's the kicker: you'll make more selling two songs via Mperia than you would selling an entire album if you were signed to a major label.
But Mperia is not just an e-commerce frontend. It's also designed to bring great artists and fans together, via community-driven and social networking software. Listeners can preview music with a Shoutcast-compatible music player, read the artist's comments, rate and review each song. Artists can post their upcoming gigs, which Mperia Listeners can choose to receive e-mail reminders of the day before (and soon will be able to organize social functions around, ala Meetup).
(full disclosure: Josh is an occasional contributor to Mindjack)
| :: posted by Donald Melanson, 1:43 PM |
|
