The New York Times released an article online today headlined "Universal Imeem Deal May unlock More Free Music." The article is basically talking about how Universal's music group is creating a social networking site that will allow users to listen to as many songs as they want on the site--streaming, not downloading.
This may be a good advent for those who simply love music and want a forum to discuss it. Users can however purchase songs for less than a dollar if they wish, so this is really not much different from using iTunes, but it does provide a networking site. In essence, it is combining both iTunes and MySpace in one easy to use forum.
One key quotation provided by reporter Saul Hansell reads, “In many ways, sites like Imeem could well serve the function that radio played for many years, exposing people to new songs, some of which they ultimately chose to buy. Imeem puts this in the context of a social network where some of the main activities are recommending songs and trading playlists with friends.”
The fact that these songs are available at low cost speaks to the fact that they have to rely on advertising to generate more revenue. So essentially, this really does encompass many different types of media in one outlet. I don’t know that I would be interested enough in using this new outlet, but I do appreciate the specialization of the site.
-Roger
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