In one of the more bizarre celebrity tie-ins in recent memory, Nobel Peace Prize winner archbishop Desmond Tutu helped launch a new music discovery service in New York on Tuesday morning. The label, SOS Records, will offer free music in the MP3 format, allowing users to function as it's A&R department by voting on which artists it should sign.
So far, only four artists are listed (Naomi Striemer, Mario Winans, Shawn King and Idrissa Diop), none of whom I've ever heard of. However, other bands and artists who are interested in a potential SOS Records deal can upload their songs.
Users will vote on the uploaded music, and winners will get to record a new album for the label with one of the site's "world-class producers." The eventual plan is "to debut one free, fully-produced song each day."
Archbishop Tutu apparently became involved in after meeting its CEO Steve Nowack by chance. He described the idea of a DRM-free ad-supported free music service with a label/producer component "incredibly powerful," and pledged his support for the venture.
SOS Records' Terms and Conditions and FAQ
pages are empty, so it's hard to tell what sort of deal the winningartists will get. It's also unclear whether artists who upload theirmusic to the site will share in its advertising revenue. I'm working ongetting answers to these questions, and may even get to ask archbishopDesmond Tutu about them myself, which would certainly be a ListeningPost first.
The site falsely claims to be the first record label to make all of its music available for free in a DRM-free format (updated); that distinction belongs to RCRD LBL.
Still, the idea of an ad-supported music downloading service with allthe rights worked out is still relatively new. SOS Records plans to finance new material rather than paying for stuff that has already been created (Update: RCRD LBL also commissions exclusive recordings).
It's nice, of course, that Nowack and company decided not to wrap their songs in DRM. Music on the site isstreamable or downloadable (no album art) in the unprotected 128
Kbps MP3 format.
As mentioned, there are currently only four artists on the site and some of their music is unpardonably cheesy. Can you handle Naomi Streimer's "Cars"? I sure couldn't. However, the label (located at WeLoveFreeMusic.com)
could fill up with artists with time, assuming the deals it's offering are worthwhile.
Update: Artists get a share of advertising revenue – more details tomorrow.
