Jamendo.com Overview
Web-Based Service Offers Free Music Downloads from Unsigned Artists
Sep 20, 2008
For consumers there are many options available to purchase digital music from many mainstream artists. Online retailers like iTunes, Napster and Rhapsody are well known and cater primarily to musicians who have achieved some degree of success.
But what of those musicians still making their way, the hobbyist still practicing their craft, or those who simply want to share their art with an audience? Jamendo.com allows these artists to distribute their music for free
Using the Site
First made public in January 2005, Jamendo serves as both a starting point for new artists and a community for fans. Musicians are given space to promote themselves and upload their music. Users can then download the music and, through the Creative Commons Licence, copy and share it. Users can also make donations to artists, write reviews, make recommendations and communicate with others through forums.
Artists retain the rights to what they publish and can still make their music commercially available through other services. While they must offer their music free of charge on the website, artists can participate in an ad revenue sharing program with Jamendo to generate a small profit.
The website's design allows for simple navigation. The search can include the artist's submitted tags (descriptions of their music), lyrics or user-created play lists. Music can also be browsed by the language or nationality of the artists and genre. In the time since it opened users have uploaded over ten-thousand albums from all over the world.
Because the service is open to anyone regardless of experience the sound quality is dependent on the equipment used to record, ranging from basement tapes to fully produced studio sessions (according to the site's FAQ the only requirements for submitted music are accepting a Creative Commons licence and that the music be audible).
The music can be downloaded in a .ZIP or .RAR file directly from Jamendo, through Bit Torrent or the eDonkey peer-to-peer file sharing system, in .mp3 or .OGG formats, which users can convert to other formats if they choose.
DRM-Free Music
Jamendo is one of the few free music providers that offers its content without Digital Rights Management- technology that limits or controls how the product can be used. Unlike SpiralFrog, a similar service that provides free music downloads from several major record labels, any tracks downloaded from Jamendo can be transferred to and from multiple computers, copied to a CD or digital music device and be used with any media player. Depending on the license an artists has chosen users can even modify their music as they wish.
