Several high-profile acts are offering free music on the Internet. The catch? Fans need to buy a CD to get it. Moving one step beyond the trend of packaging a second CD or DVD in the jewel box, the latest CDs by such acts as Metallica, Liz Phair,50 Cent, Wilco and Kelly Clarkson invite purchasers to access bonus content online.
Technology providers, which track the response rates to the initiatives, say that as many as one-third of consumers who have purchased these act's latest albums have accessed their respective Web sites.
Using various technologies, the acts' Web sites verify that the visitor has purchased the disc before granting them access to the bonus content. Such "CD-key" technology is the latest in labels' efforts to offer downloadable content while protecting CD sales.
However, artist representatives say the primary goal is maintaining good relations with fans, who are ever-thirsty for extra material. A CD-key also gives artists a more label-friendly way to give away non-album cuts to their most enthusiastic fans--even months after a CD has gone on sale. "A lot of bands are taking a serious look at this," says Ed Bender, director of multimedia at SpeakEasy, an online content provider that recently launched metallicavault.com.
"This is a way that we can refresh content," adds Bob Pfeifer of entertainment consulting company Segnana, which worked on metallicavault.com. "We can add stuff all the time. You can't do that to a disc." While all the CD-key sites aim to offer fresh content, each CD takes a different approach in terms of security and content depth.
Phair's self-titled Capitol album, released in June, contains a key that launches a secure page on her Web site where fans can listen to or download the five-song "Come and Get It" EP. The songs are in the Windows Media format, similar to the offerings on Rhapsody or Pressplay. The EP can be burned to a CD as many as three times, but the disc only plays in CD players or portable devices that can read Windows Media files. The Web site offers downloadable cover art for the EP.
Metallica's Elektra album "St Anger" provides access to metallicavault.com - each disc comes with its own discrete, single-user pass code. At the site, fans can download some 60 previously unreleased live tracks. Interestingly, given the band's well-known aversion to unauthorized downloading, the songs are in the unprotected MP 3format. The files are of a better quality than what is typically available online, and the band plans to offer dozens more tracks on the site in the coming months.
Clarkson's RCA debut "Thankful" requires installation of a self-contained application, which is the only way to play the "American Idol" first-season winner's bonus songs and videos; they cannot be downloaded or burned. Users register after they have installed the application, and content changes virtually every week.
Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" contains a link to the band's Web site, where fans can download the six-song "More Like the Moon" EP. Visitors need only provide the code that is listed on the CD booklet (it is the same on all copies) to download the MP3s. Like Phair's EP, the Wilco EP comes with downloadable cover art.
