Four Eyed Monsters is a full length feature film that has been released to YouTube for one week only.
It’s about our lives. Being alone in a city, wanting to be in a relationship but feeling there are no good ways to start a connection and then breaking out of a rut, jumping feet first into something deeper and crazier than either of us expected.
What’s interesting is the steps they’re taking to monetize the film.
First, they’re asking everyone to join Spout, a movie review site that has agreed to give them $1 for every user that signs up (to a max of $100,000).
Second, they’re selling their film on a variety of DRM free media, from downloads to a full featured DVD.
Third, they’re running co-branded advertising on YouTube, similar to Rolling Rock, which is something I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of as YouTube tries to figure out how to get back it’s Dollar Eyed Monster of an investment (though I’m thinking this is a good thing, seeing as advertising linked to the video you are watching is much better than a flashing Crazy Frog).
The movie is over 70 minutes long, so be prepared to sit for a while, but if you want a peak at the way media is going to be distributed in the future, look no further, because this is it.
Amie Street is a new way of purchasing music online that “combines the best elements of social networking, online music retail and discovery engines”. Independent artists can promote and sell their DRM free music, and fans can explore, recommend and buy that music. All songs start out free, and the price rises (up to a max of 98 cents) as the song becomes more popular. That way, new stuff gets discovered and expensive stuff is probably going to be worth the cost. When a user finds a song they like, they can recommend it to their friends, and earn credits towards future music purchases as the song rises in popularity. It’s definitely an interesting concept, and one that I like a lot. Hopefully more publishers will come to realize that they need to change the way people buy music.
RIP AllofMP3.com, I only wish I could have known you better. The used to be secret spot for downloading full quality music at your quality of choice without the hassle of DRM has finally succumb to its own popularity, as Russia has finally agreed to the US’s (RIAA’s) demands to shut it down. Though I must say I knew at some point that it would get shut down (if it seems too good to be true…), but I was actually surprised by how long they managed to stay in business. Even with this latest nail in the coffin, they still stand by their statement that what they are doing is not illegal (though I don’t think it will help much at this point). If only the record labels would have learned a lesson from AllofMP3’s popularity, instead of spending all of their time trying to shut it down, we might finally have a music download system that makes sense (and dollars) in the US. Oh well, I guess it’s back to P2P networks then until the record companies can figure things out. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me.
