The Media Column by Paul Bradshaw

A FROG IN MY THROAT

02-09-2006

Freesounds on the internet being offered by legitimate record companies. Has the music world gone mad? Or just got hip?

Sounds like iTunes will finally have a rival worthy of its muscle with the news that Universal Music are planning to launch a free music download service.

The strangest part of the move for me is the choice of a name for the service: Spiralfrog.com.

That's right: Spiralfrog.

What names did they reject before they settled on that little number? Twisted Toad.net? Curly Newt? Whirly Amphibian? Were there no other web addresses available?

I'm also baffled by the lack of any musical connections in the name. “iTunes” does what it says on the tin. “Emusic” and “Trax2burn”, ditto. The only music that Spiralfrog makes me think of is Crazy Frog, and anything that makes me think of Crazy Frog is likely to result in physical violence. The RSPCA are on standby.

To overcome the initial handicap of a ridiculous name, Universal have two big advantages: the massive catalogue of a big name record company whose artists range from the Black Eyed Peas and the Beautiful South to U2 and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; and their decision to offer music for free.

It's a bold move, especially from an industry that has so far seen offering music without payment as the First Horseman Of The Apocalypse.

But it seems that advertising is riding in as the saviour: in a world where companies are desperate for the ‘young buck', and where youth are increasingly moving away from traditional ad channels like television and print, a product like this would have wide appeal. Already fashion company Perry Ellis, Levi's, Aeropostale, Benetton and others have all expressed interest.

How this advertising would work is not yet clear. Some think that users would have to view an advert before downloading the track, while others have suggested the advert may actually be incorporated into the track itself - so you could find yourself hearing the ‘Carcraft West Midlands' jingle every time you want to listen to Gary Numan.

One thing is clear: iTunes' domination of the music download market (they are estimated to have a share of around 80%) cannot be healthy. We can only hope that this frog has teeth.