(New York City, USA) – Music site spiral frog has finally opened its virtual doors on Sunday night. The portal, which might well become a successful competitor to iTunes, has a completely different business model, and steps away from the conventional retail formula.
Based on ads, indie labels and music behemoth Universal provide their music to customers free of charge. The site shares the advertising revenue generated with the content providers, hereby offering consumers a safe and attractive alternative to peer to peer servcies, as there is no risk of viruses, adware, spyware and other things of such ilk. Moreover, users can also download a growing number of videos, in addition to the music offerings.
The site, which was supposed to have launched a year ago, has been plagued by startup problems, as its entire management left the premises, due to rumored debts. Nevertheless, a group of avid followers continued the efforts, which have been launched in the US and Canada.
With an initial offering of an amazing 770.000 tracks, with the ambition to reach 2 million tracks in two years, the service has all the potential to become a hit. There are some restrictions however. The portal’s content employs Microsofts drm, only allowing computers and windows certified media players to playback the content. Moreover, tracks cannot be burned onto cd, or consequently, be uploaded onto an iPod, given that Apple has their own DRM system called fairplay.
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