As the industry continues to try and adapt to the changing digital landscape, notable music innovator Peter Gabriel has stepped into the fray. Gabriel is one of the founding investors of a new music download service that offers tracks for free to users who are willing to listen to ads. The company is called We7 and promises "free, safe, legal and artists get paid"
Gabriel made a statement saying:
This is one way of resolving this dilemma, It was something that was going to happen whether I liked it or not. We7 provides artists--even across the more experimental or minority genres--with the opportunity to build a new source of income from their music.
A short advertisement will precede each track downloaded. After the song - and advertisment - had been listened to three, four or five times, We7's users would be able to download an ad-free version. Accordingly, the advertising revenues will be shared with the artists and performers. Those who don't want to wait will have the option of buying tracks without the advertisements.
So, what do you think? Would you listen to a ten-second ad to get free music and know that the artist was actually being paid for their work?