SONG CONTEST BLOG

“When we launched our free digital distribution service, we knew we would be able to provide our users with new possibilities to help them expand their own marketing. With Jango Airplay, our users can freely invest into getting radio promotions and establish unique social interactions with new fans to help drive music sales. We are very excited to be working with Jango to provide an effective marketing avenue to our users.” said Kevin Rivers, Founder and CEO of WaTunes.

“We designed Jango Airplay to give emerging artists an affordable and effective way to get their music proactively played to real listeners who like similar music. Thanks to WaTunes and affordable technology it is cheaper than ever to produce and sell music – but getting your music heard is the first step. We are very excited to bring WaTunes users in front of our 6 Million listeners. ” said Mattias Stanghed, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Jango.

Related Posts: Spotify, Grooveshark Artists

Digital music distribution is a hot item on this blog and those who read it know that I keep a close eye on the three major players catering to small independents, namely ReverbNation, TuneCore, and CD Baby.  All three have lowered the barrier of entry for indie artists and small labels to distribute their catalogues to iTunes and other major online retailers for upfront fees as opposed to hefty commissions by the likes of The Orchard, INgrooves, IODA, IRIS, and others, who generally avoid small players anyway.  Now, a new digital music distribution dotcom has emerged but with an ad-supported business model.  WaTunes aims to thrive on ad revenue by providing artists and labels with a free (no frontend fees, no backend commissions) distribution channel to online retailers such as iTunes, Napster, and eMusic.

The slightly questionable website service description and makeshift appearance promises to provide the same level of content marketing and distribution as its rivals, and much more.  In theory, WaTunes is offering a very attractive service to a huge potential market, but is it sustainable?  SpiralFrog, We7 and Qtrax have yet to prove that their ad-supported download services have legs.  In this economy, I’m not sure that any upstart can scale on advertising revenue alone.

Business models aside, I’m somewhat concerned about WaTunes’ cryptic service description and the fact that their web pages are riddled with spelling mistakes and poor marketing copy.  It’s a bit like walking into a fancy restaurant only to notice that the toilets are overflowing with shit halfway through your dinner.  Going with my gut here (no pun intended), I feel that the musician-led platform may be biting off more than they can chew… but I would love to be proven otherwise.  I like free.  Who doesn’t?