Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno To Offer MUDDA & New Download Service

by , 11:00 AM EST, January 30th, 2004

Music has become a hot topic these days. What with people getting sued for downloading copied music, and iTunes Music Store's ever increasing competition, you can't pop open a news site without reading something about music downloading. While many new music download services attempt to emulate Apple's efforts, there are a few that are truly different for one reason or another. We told you about one such effort, Magnatune, now Salon.com is reporting that musicians Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno are setting up an alliance of musicians in an effort to give musicians more control over how their music is sold. From the Salon.com article, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno unveil digital "manifesto":

Rock veterans Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno are launching a provocative new musicians' alliance that would cut against the industry grain by letting artists sell their music online instead of only through record labels.

With the Internet transforming how people buy and listen to songs, musicians need to act now to claim digital music's future, Gabriel and Eno argued Monday as they handed out a slim red manifesto at a huge dealmaking music conference known as Midem.

They call the plan the "Magnificent Union of Digitally Downloading Artists" -- or MUDDA, which has a less lofty ring to it.

"Unless artists quickly grasp the possibilities that are available to them, then the rules will get written, and they'll get written without much input from artists," said Eno, who has a long history of experimenting with technology.

By removing record labels from the equation, artists can set their own prices and set their own agendas, said the two independent musicians, who hope to launch the online alliance within a month.

Their pamphlet lists ideas for artists to explore once they're freed from the confines of the CD format. One might decide to release a minute of music every day for a month. Another could post several recorded variations of the same song and ask fans what they like best.

Gabriel, who has his own label, Real World Records, said he isn't trying to shut down the record companies -- he just wants to give artists more options.

"There are some artists who already tried to do everything on their own," he said, adding that those musicians often found out they didn't like marketing or accounting. "We believe there will be all sorts of models for this."

Stop by Salon.com to read the full article.

The Mac Observer Spin:

This is really interesting news. It seems that people are finding truly interesting ways to market music these days. We mentioned Magnatune before because it is not a music download service per se, but an actual music label that handles distribution of the music its artists create directly on the Internet, which sounds a lot like Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno's effort. Of course, with famous names like Gabriel and Eno, their efforts are likely to bear bigger fruit.

We also find it interesting that Gabriel and Eno may succeed where Apple and other have thus far failed; Gabriel already has an established download service in 11 European countries, which give him a leg up on Apple, which is still trying to establish iTMS in Europe and is having a hard time of it. Gabriel's service will be the basis of Gabriel and Eno's new service. Apple could find a way to get involved. Just a thought.

In any event, we need to pay attention to how this plays out.

Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno unveil digital