- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Webware
- Date added: September 09, 2007
- Total Downloads: 268
- Downloads last week: 1
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- Average user rating: stars out of 1 votes
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CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Webware staff on August 25, 2009
Jamendo, a Luxembourg-based music service that launched back in 2005, takes a different tack than most mainstream music sharing Web sites. Namely, the legality is not questionable because the service is positioned rather strictly as a tool for indie artists to make their songs readily available in the name of expanding exposure and attracting more listeners. It hosts music of varying licenses, and gives users and professionals a place to discover and download tracks either for free or by purchase.
Jamendo is great for indie stuff since you can stream tracks an unlimited number of times without being registered. It also lets you download entire albums for free: by early 2009, the site had close to 20,000 albums published to it, many of which hold a Creative Commons license that allows for no-cost downloads. And if you do decide you want to support a particular artist, you can donate an amount of your choosing. Of course, one obvious limitation is that you won't find any mainstream stuff, but that is only a downside for some.
Jamendo also offers an intriguing pro service for audio professionals. The service takes artist's songs and turns them into muzak streams and on-hold music. They also manage the licensing of tracks for commercial use by taking a chunk of the cost, then giving the rest to the music creators; basically, it functions like ASCAP. All in all, Jamendo provides a compelling service for independent musicians who want a simple way to get their content into the ears of potential fans, which therefor means more free music available (legally) for consumers. Sounds like a good deal to us.
Publisher's description
From Jamendo :Jamendo is a new model for artists to promote, publish, and be paid for their music. On Jamendo, the artists distribute their music under Creative Commons licenses. In a nutshell, they allow you to download, remix, and share their music freely. It's a "Some rights reserved" agreement, perfectly suited for the new century. These new rules allow jamendo to use the powerful new means of digital distribution like Peer-to-Peer networks such as BitTorrent or eMule to legally distribute albums at near-zero cost. jamendo users can discover and share albums, but also review them or start a discussion on the forums.
Albums are democratically rated based on the visitors reviews. If they fancy an artist they can support him by making a donation. Jamendo is the only platform that joins together: a legal framework protecting the artists, free, simple, and quick access to the music, for everyone. Jamendo uses the lastest Peer-to-Peer technologies, the possibility of making direct donations to the artists and an adaptive music recommendation system based on iRATE to help listeners discover new artists based on their tastes and on other criterias such as their location.
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