Friday, January 12, 2007

jam + crescendo = jamendo

jamendo is one of several new sites attempting to flip the script on the gasping, grasping music industry by providing free, Creative Commons-licensed music to a community of listeners who can donate and support artists that they like. jamendo's unique distribution system minimizes their bandwidth overhead by providing album downloads via BitTorrent and eMule. Much of the site content reflects its French origin, but there's an honest effort to globalize the site by encouraging translation and narrow-by-language options. As an electronica fan with few options in a narrowing media environment, I was honestly surprised by the quality of electronic music being presented on the site.

From the Jamendo FAQ for Artists:
"Why put my music online for free? That is the most important point, also the most obvious! To convince you, we let yourself answer to these questions [sic]:
What is the share that an artist has on its CD sales?
How many artists can really make a living from the sales of their albums, without making concerts?
Among general public, how many young people still buy CDs?"


Booyeah.

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