slotMusic.org: Future of Music Sales?

On their Website, www.slotmusic.org, you can read more about the limited numbers of artists they have available (Keane, MIA, Akon, Rise Against, Hendrix, thenewno2, Weezer among current artists available) and if yo ur Mobile device is microSD compatible (my cell is not). Currently, the only way to purchase slotMusic is online or at Best Buy and Walmart.

SlotMusic comes across to me as a beta program by a technology company to see if its sticks and an attempt for major labels to re-control the music distribution channel that the Internet took away. Will it make an impact? Probably not. Musicphiles and bloggers everywhere have been panning this idea since late September.

Pros

• DRM-free is good for consumers who want to share music

• Smaller than CDs or vinyl, so it takes less space to store

• Since Major labels are behind this and will buy in bulk, it should drive down the price of microSD cards overall

• Reusable and smaller media = better for the environment than CDs and jewel cases

• Using technology to come up with new ways to remove limitations from music sharing

Cons

• iPods and iPhones are the mainstream and they do not support microSD cards

• They are not supporting independent labels and technology is cost-prohibitive for unsigned and independent bands

• Easy to lose or delete content

• Very few artists available

• Only available at Best Buy and Walmart so puts another nail in the coffin of record stores

I am not fully convinced that this is the way to go, but might be a step in the right direction if people buy into it. The concept has similar potential to over mediums that revolutionized music sharing. People adopted cassettes because they could make mix tapes or copies of LPs and other cassettes. CD-Rs exploded once burning CDs became affordable. MP3 brough the industry to its knees due to their portability. Will microSD cards follow that trend? It's possible, but only time will tell.

Maybe if they provide a Web-based music management system -- like iTunes -- to keep track of what you buy in case you lose your card or so you can access it over the Web would be useful. Also, gotta find a way to get Apple on board with this, otherwise this will fail in the short run.

Learn more at: http://www.slotmusic.org/