Some say that the success of an online record label like GoodNoise will rely on signing big-name artists within their new business model.
If that’s true, then Thursday’s announcement that the MP3 label signed ever-quirky indy rockers They Might Be Giants is a big score.
"If you search for TMBG on the Net, it’s amazing how many things are out there," said Steve Grady, vice president of marketing for GoodNoise (OTC: GDNO). "It’s one of the major reasons we wanted to work with those guys."
The band will sell several albums -- 100 individual tracks -- in the MP3 format at GoodNoise and on the TMBG’s Web site. Albums They Might Be Giants, Lincoln, Miscellaneous T, and Severe Tire Damage cost US$9, and individual tracks cost a buck apiece.
Two other collections -- Giants Jubilee, which has B-sides and extra tracks from Then: The Earlier Years, and a second volume, titled Mightathon, are also for sale.
TMBG will also release a new album with GoodNoise, full of previously unreleased material including "the wilder songs," and recordings from the band’s Dial-A-Song service, where fans can call in and hear a new song each week. TMBG was able to make the deal with GoodNoise because the band -- rather than a record label -- owns the rights to these particular tracks.
GoodNoise is trying to build a business selling albums and individual tracks for digital downloading in the wildly popular MP3 format. MP3, or Motion Picture Experts Group, audio layer three, is a technology that allows audiophiles to compress and send music files easily over the Net. Big record labels are hesitant to embrace MP3 to sell music online, because they say it causes widespread piracy.
A ton of people use MP3 on the Net -- in fact, it’s the second most popular search term online, after "sex," according to Searchterms.com. Still, for the six-month period that ended 31 December, GoodNoise saw a net loss of $2 million on only $20,465 in revenues.
Steve Grady, vice president of marketing, said the site only launched in July, and had only a few albums worth of content posted for the remainder of the year. The company’s recent deal with indy label Rycodisc for about 175 tracks boosted its content offering, Grady said. "The revenue number is pretty insignificant to us right now. We know we will grow as we add content."
