Every Wednesday I will begin reviewing bands, artists and/or other places to sell and promote your work on the web. In today's spotlight I am focusing on a great site I came across called Choosik.
The first thing that really popped out at me when reading their FAQ was their mission statement so to speak of what they are out to accomplish. From their website offering practical solutions for:
1) the time it took to find independent music
2) boundaries between mainstream and quality independent artists
3) the high cost of entry for new talented artists.
The folks at Choosik are not funded by any mainstream corporation and is operated and funded by four relatives in the Kansas City area. I like the idea that they are very upfront about their fees...or should I say lack of fees in joining their site. Sure websites selling digital downloads are popping up everywhere and are a dime a dozen. What makes Choosik unique in buying or selling music? They allow the listener to gauge the popularity of a song by having them rate it in return for downloading the song for free. As listeners rate songs they earn points that can be redeemed on future purchases.
How does a rating system help the artist?
The rating system accomplishes a few things with the listener. First and most important it builds a community of independent music lovers. Here is how the rating system works per Choosik's site:
"Every time you login, you are randomly assigned new songs to rate from a pool of most recent songs added on Choosik. The song is ranked on the site with a score of 0-100 (100 is the highest rating). You also receives a “reliability rating” and you are ranked by your rating consistency as compared to the other fans that have rated the same song. So, the rating system prevents artificial high or low ratings."
What is also great is that the more visitors rank your music the easier your music can be found.
Here are the quick facts you should consider as an artist:
- Set-up and membership fee: $0.00 - FREE
- You have the flexibility to set your sale price between .25 cents and .99 cents.
- Choosik only keeps .25 cents per sale giving artists one of the highest payouts (based on a .99 cent sale) on the net.
- They have an established network with MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and imeem
- NON-EXCLUSIVE - Sell your work wherever you want!
- Artist decides how often they want to be paid via PayPal
- Offers a great venue listing that cross-promotes artists in their respective local markets (venues can also sell music)
I really like this site. It is clean and easy to navigate. It does not slow your computer down as some sites do trying to showcase too much at one time. One thing I really like is that the music that you select to listen to continues to play even if you go to a new page. Nice touch!
TuneBlog Rating:
1 - Bad
2 - OK
3 - Good
4 - Great
5 - EXCELLENT
Stay Tuned...
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