Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk

Subject: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: axman664
Date: 01 Mar 04 - 05:27 PM

Friends,

Not finding many options on ITunes or Napster, does anyone know of a good Download service that has a good selection of folk music? Or even a mediocre one?

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Mar 04 - 05:38 PM

only in the newsgroups...and most of those are 'illegal'...meaning MP3s that are simply ripped & posted. Folk doesn't get a lot of attention.

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 01 Mar 04 - 07:49 PM

The best way to get 'folk tunes' is from here.

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Mar 04 - 08:07 PM

Funny you should ask, Axman - Take a look at this quote from Music Industry News Network

Smithsonian Folkways Chooses Peppercoin for Online Music Payments


Collection of 33,000 American Folk and World Songs Available for Purchase for 99 Cents

WALTHAM, Mass. ­ January 12, 2004 ­ Peppercoin, a micropayments company that enables profitable new business models for low-priced digital content and physical goods, today announced that Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has selected the Peppercoin Payment System to power its online music initiative. Smithsonian will make its entire collection of 33,000 American folk and world songs from artists such as Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Brownie McGhee, Pete Seeger and Ella Jenkins available online to consumers for 99 cents.

"For more than a decade, Smithsonian Folkways has offered a unique song library that celebrates the heritage of our nation and the world. Peppercoin's technology reduces our cost of doing business and provides the best way to make our historic collection available to consumers on a track-by-track basis," said Richard Burgess, director of marketing for Smithsonian Folkways. "We can reach out to a broader audience, connecting them to a rich heritage of recorded sound."

Peppercoin's micropayment system is the first that allows merchants to offer new content profitably with a consumer-friendly, pay-as-you-go approach that eliminates prepayments. In CY2002, Smithsonian Folkways grew 36 percent selling 300,000 units and generating more than $4 million in sales. Smithsonian Folkways began digitizing its music library, which spans more than 50 years, in January and will launch the new service on April 1, 2004. The non-profit record label also plans to offer music online from Africa, India and other world regions by the end of 2004.

"Peppercoin is enabling a dramatic change in the way music reaches consumers," said Robert Kiburz, president and CEO of Peppercoin. "Music lovers will be able to access Smithsonian Folkways online to purchase rare and hard to find tracks as readily as they would top ten hits."

Peppercoin integrates easily with transaction systems and complements existing business models to accelerate merchant revenues and increase profits while reducing transaction costs dramatically. Peppercoin's service makes it easy for consumers to buy only the content they want, when they want it, while dramatically reducing merchant transaction fees.

The consumer demand for low-cost content is significant. A recent survey conducted by Ipsos-Insight found that more than four million Americans have purchased digital content for less than $2 in the past year. Additionally, a projected 30 million Americans are at least somewhat likely to purchase content online for less than $2 in the next twelve months. One of the main factors needed to drive that growth is the rise in pay-as-you-go purchasing like Peppercoin is providing for Smithsonian.

About Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the non-profit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the national museum of the United States. A division of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings supports traditional artists and their music, cultural diversity, education, and increased understanding among people. "Connecting People Through Music." www.folkways.si.edu.

---

I didn't find anything right off at Smithsonian Folkways or Peppercoin, but I'm sure it will come soon.
-Joe Offer-

---

For field recordings, see

• Max Hunter Folk Song Collection
• American Memory Collection, Library of Congress

Are there any UK sources of field or other folk recordings?

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: Sorcha
Date: 01 Mar 04 - 08:14 PM

See? I told you that you could get answers here.

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 01 Mar 04 - 09:13 PM

There is very little UK audio material available free online; we don't get the funding over here that makes resources like those provided by the Library of Congress, for example, possible. It's also true that the "free download" culture that has developed over the last few years tends to lead many people to imagine that in some fashion they "deserve" to be given vast resources freely and at no cost or even marginal effort to themselves.

Somebody has to do all the necessary work, though, and somebody has to pay for it. The only significant collection of recorded material from UK traditional musicians that I know of at present is the Farne Archive, which concentrates mainly on the North Eastern tradition, and has been mentioned here quite a bit since it finally went live recently. It is generously funded by various arts organisations.

A great deal more could be achieved if funders in Britain valued national heritage in the way that other countries do, rather than, as is mainly the case here, assigning resources principally to modern, ephemeral fashion and to bourgeois "art" music of the kind traditionally preferred by the arts establishment.

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 01 Mar 04 - 09:53 PM

This sure fine information! i want to be fair when finding songs to put on my CD.

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Mar 04 - 01:05 AM

saw these suggestions somewhere-

http://www.binaries.sounds.folk.mp3/

http://www.binaries.sounds.country.mp3/

can someone explain the need for a newsreader?

& how to use one?

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 02 Mar 04 - 03:32 AM

I am told (but don't know) that soulseek may be useful.

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 02 Mar 04 - 03:35 AM

cdbaby.com, which is one of the fastest gorwing internet CD music distributors now also offer a single-track download facility in competition ti iTunes. I am considering putting my stuff on it. Anyway, worth a look, and again in a couple of months time, as this business is growing as we speak.

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Mar 04 - 12:59 PM

is Napster back..is there a fee per song ? What is the fee ?

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 02 Mar 04 - 08:12 PM

Not sure what you mean by "folk" music but www.honkingduck.com is worth a look.

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: harpgirl
Date: 02 Mar 04 - 11:28 PM

"E music" has a number of good folk artists for download at a small price. It used to be a monthly fee for unlimited downlads. Now I think it is per song.

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: harpgirl
Date: 02 Mar 04 - 11:34 PM

Look here:

http://www.emusic.com/genres_popular/286/

Subject: RE: Tech: best pay-per-download service for folk
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Mar 04 - 07:41 PM

ummm..guest, that's what I was referring to in my first post, only it's not http, it's alt.binaries...etc...

a newsreader accesses 'usenet', a bulletin board system which pre-dates the WWW. People talk about everything under the sun there. Most browsers have a newsreader built in, though standalone ones are usually better. If you are using I.E. or Netscape or Opera, you HAVE a newsreader...you just need to poke thru the menus at the top and find & configure it so it knows who YOU are and what your ISP is...

Be warned...accessing music, even LEGAL music, this way takes lots of speed & time unless you have a very fast connection. There are music discussion groups that are great and where you can learn lots, even if you don't get music there.

("binaries" in the title means the group allows music or graphic files to be posted...not all do....and it varies what YOUR provider may carry...the music and image groups take a lot of space.)