"New Avenues Of Profit"
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Music Publishers |
Ah yes, you saw that kid with a digital music player stuck to his ear, listening to custom-arranged music while swaying on his way downtown. He doesn't look like he can afford much. But make no mistake, at US $10.00 per month subscription (there are sites that offer US$ 9.95; real dirt cheap site goes for US$ 4.95, but on limited selections only), he can play lots of tunes! Unlimited downloads on old materials and about US $2-$4 for new sounds and beats, it doesn't take much to look so cool.
Free music sites: There are plenty of free music websites that offer free downloads. Mind you, these are legal sites. Don't expect full albums to be downloaded, however. They do offer teaser videos and cuts, then get the tracks and the videos for a small fee. But many independent music artists (or "indies" for short) let you download their entire album for promotion.
Buy music over the Web: An increasingly popular way to find and download music online is to buy from legal online music providers. They offer great packages and great sound quality to start with. The rest is dependent on your player and your speakers (or earphones).
The most popular of these is Apple's I-tunes, because of the great promotion of Steve Jobs, as well as the fact that you can choose 100,000 songs from all the major labels. The site was built around the capabilities of the iPod, so the small bud really gets great juice and squeezes to you great sounds. But great sites exist for alternate MP3 players as well!
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Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on music and songwriting have appeared on many websites.
You can find more of these at SongwritersGuide.com.
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