Two items came up in my RSS feeds today, both from Wired’s Listening Post, that I felt deserved some commentary. One is a great innovation that should hopefully monetize a previously untapped sector of the music business (while keeping in line with my principles); the other is almost there.
1. Overlay.tv
Overlay.tv allows artists to take their music videos and turn them into a conversation piece and sales agent, all at the same time. Using this service, artists can throw bits of information, or even links to products you can buy through the band’s website, into an online video of theirs. Wired describes this as “Pop-Up video mashed with the home shopping network.”
I love this idea. Not only does it remind me of a business plan I started working on two years ago (for those interested, music/arts reviews and interviews with the same “extra information” and/or “embedded ads”), but it also adheres to the whole idea of finding alternative means to profit while giving the musical experience away for free that I’m trying to promote, both through this blog and otherwise.
Check it out now — or even make your own! Mind you, it’s a little slow (or at least it is on my computer) at the moment. Hopefully that will change once it’s out of its beta period…
2. HD Radio
This, I’m only sort of thrilled about. The basic idea is that, with most of the HD Radio players, you’ll be able to tag music if your iPod is plugged in, and then, when you return home and sync with iTunes, you’ll be prompted to buy songs that you tagged.
You almost have it, you guys! If only the HD Radio experience weren’t subscription based, or it would work (with a simple, not-too-expensive add-on) for normal-radio, this might actually help boost sales for the music biz as a whole. Until then, you’ve nearly gotten an Aidan seal of approval.
