Audio Video News

Audiophiles, get your downloading fingers ready. Finally, a music download service with a sound we can all be excited about. Peter Gabriel and his Real World Studios are joining forces with Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) speaker manufacturers to create a unique concept, beneficial to both music lovers and the artists creating the music. Take a look at this innovative new business model.

What's in it for you? Join the Society of Sound Music Club for $67 a year (or sign up before June 18th for a 3-month free trial) and each month, you can download a new release of exclusive music. Do the math -- that's just $5.58 per album. Too much of a committment for you? Sign up for six months for $47. 

What's in it for the artists? Without signing their souls away, they get access to an amazing studio, top-class engineers, and a waiting audience through this new business model. Exposure to folks who might never give them a shot.

Here are the two things that are so special about these tracks. First, they're recorded at Gabriel's state-of-the-art studio, with complete freedom for the artists by not having to answer to a big record-label's restrictions and direction. But, here's the part that makes the recording engineer in me so happy. The tracks aren't data-compressed. They're Apple Lossless files, so the sound quality is superb. You can burn them to CD without losing a thing.

The albums are available on the Society of Sound website for a few months, and then all rights go back to the artist. They can do what they want with their album. Release a hard-copy CD, sign it over to a big record label, whatever they want. But, once you have the tunes, they're yours for life, in all their CD-quality glory.

I'm heading over right now for the three-month free trial. I'll let you know if I upgrade to a full subscription.-Leslie Shapiro

Be sure to check out Peter Gabriel's Interview about the Society of Sound.