New Music Community Compensates Members for Sharing DRM-free MP3 Files and
Pays Royalties to Copyright Holders
GAINESVILLE, Fla., Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Escape Media Group, LLC today
announced Grooveshark, a new peer-to-peer (P2P) music-sharing community
that will compensate both copyright holders and members who participate in
the community.
Grooveshark combines the best of P2P file sharing and online music
purchase sites into one service at http://www.grooveshark.com. Visitors can browse
songs uploaded by other members and pay to download MP3 files with no
digital rights management (DRM) technology. Songs vary in price, but cost
no more than 99 cents. Grooveshark will pay appropriate royalties to
copyright holders by taking commissions from users' transactions and also
compensate users with free music for community participation such as
uploading songs, fixing song tags, flagging unwanted files or reviewing
music. Members will be rewarded based on their level of contribution to the
community.
"Our bottom line is value. By bringing the convenience and selection of
a peer-to-peer network together with the recommendation power of a
community of friends -- all the while removing DRM -- we can generate
revenue to compensate both copyright holders and users," said Sam
Tarantino, 20-year-old founder and CEO of Escape Media Group, the parent
company of Grooveshark.
Because all Grooveshark files are DRM-free MP3s, they can be played on
any computer or digital music player, so users no longer risk losing the
ability to play songs in their collection if they change their computer or
player.
Grooveshark will function much like popular P2P file exchanges. Members
can offer their media library for sale through Grooveshark and discover and
share new music with other members (only MP3 or OGG files without DRM). The
difference: Grooveshark will broker music transactions by charging up to 99
cents for each song downloaded and use those proceeds to pay royalties to
the copyright holders and reward members for community participation.
"Much of the success of P2P networks can be amplified by a community
aspect -- allowing users to find someone with similar musical tastes and
sample songs from their collection to find new artists or rare and unique
songs and genres," said Tarantino. "By harnessing the power of
user-generated content, Grooveshark can bring together online community
elements, compensate artists and users and provide customers with control
over their music by eliminating unfair DRM schemes," he added.
Grooveshark expects to begin beta testing during the first quarter of
2007. For more information, or to be notified when the beta version is
available, visit http://www.grooveshark.com.
About Grooveshark
Grooveshark, a peer-to-peer (P2P) music file-sharing community that
brokers music transactions between members, is a service of Escape Media
Group, LLC. By charging for the songs exchanged between members on their
site, Grooveshark will compensate copyright holders and users while
providing the convenience and selection of P2P file sharing in an online
music community. All Grooveshark files are free of digital rights
management (DRM) technology, allowing users to play the songs they purchase
on any type of computer or digital music player. For more information,
visit http://www.escapemg.com.
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