Forget the whole pay-what-you-want model. The music industry is now buzzing about Rcrdlbl, a new, label-affiliated music blog that gives away free MP3s to draw traffic to its advertisers.
Unlike most blogs giving away MP3s, Rcrdlabl pays the artists for the use of their songs and the whole enterprise will not draw the ire of the RIAA’s lawsuit-happy attorneys. “In a world where many people get their music for free, we wanted to create a site where bands we loved could put their music out there for free AND get paid for it,” the company says on its site, www.rcrdlbl.com.
With a bunch of hip indie labels as partners, including Downtown Records, Warp and Modular, Rcrdlbl will likely get a lot of people to check them out initially, especially when it has launched with free downloads of a remix of Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.” featuring Mos Def and a Grizzly Bear remake of The Crystals’ “He Hit Me (And It Felt like a Kiss).”
The trick will be getting people to come back regularly enough to make its big-name advertisers – Nikon and Puma, for starters – happy. The other trick requires a bit of honor. It’s asking other music blogs not to download its MP3s and then put them up on their own sites to boost their own traffic. “Since this is an ad-supported venture the best way to support what we're doing is to visit the site on a regular basis,” the company explains.
Time will tell if Rcrdlbl’s music blog competitors will live up to that end of the bargain. For the time being, though, consider Rcrdlbl an early holiday gift from the music industry.
PHOTO: Grizzly Bear by Patryce Bak / Warp Records