BigChampagne's Ultimate Chart (a/o February 10th):
1. “What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger),” Kelly Clarkson
2. “Set Fire to the Rain,” Adele
3. “Turn Me On,” David Guetta
4. “Rack City,” TYGA
5. “Good Feeling,” Flo Rida
6. “Smooth Criminal (Glee Cast Version),” Glee Cast
7. “Young, Wild & Free,” Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
8. “Domino ,” Jessie J
9. “Sexy and I Know It,” LMFAO
10. “Ass Back Home ,” Gym Class Heroes
Is PlayLouder about to revolutionize the British music market? A recent article in paidContent suggests just that, though executives raised serious questions about claims being made in the report on Tuesday.
The report (available at paidcontent.co.uk) opened by pointing to a deal with "one of the UK's top ISPs," a partnership that would construct an "unlimited music service that would pay record labels for songs illegally downloaded by its customers," a compensation plan that appears financially difficult at best.
That sounds a bit outlandish, though PlayLouder is actually planning a service that would allow file-sharing within a closed, ISP-controlled sandbox. Those transactions would be monitored, while royalties are distributed accordingly.
But the freedoms normally associated with P2P-based music acquisition and sharing would be seriously limited, at least outside the walls of the ISP. "They might be close to inking an opt-in music subscription deal with a UK ISP," one source close to the situation described, drawing loose parallels to stateside partnerships created between Rhapsody and ISPs like Comcast.
PlayLouder initially entered the market as a music-focused, broadband ISP (or MSP), one that offered music downloads within a contained account. Within the confines of that environment, users were allowed to download and playback songs of their choice, even from illegal P2P services. But the files - substituted copies of the actual, requested downloads - could not be swapped with those outside of the MSP.
The MSP model failed to grow legs, leading the team towards a broader ISP negotiation. And translated into an ISP partnership like Virgin (suggested by paidContent), the service represents a step down from current, free acquisition options. Currently, users can download MP3s from a variety of outlets, including LimeWire, and subsequently share and access those files without restrictions.
Also clouding the issue is a lack of major label licensing. Despite five years in the marketplace, PlayLouder currently has licensing deals with just two major labels - EMI and Sony Music - according to the company. The remaining deals could require considerable time and money to complete, according to typical major label licensing processes.
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