We were promised a music purchasing revolution in the digital age. Companies like Napster tried, but they got bogged down in the legalities and were forced to revert back to the expensive pay-per-track system. Bands like Radiohead also attempted to transform the music industry by letting fans choose how much they’d pay for albums, but too many fans abused the system. While these approaches clearly had their day, neither of these new ways to own music has really stuck. That’s why I was surprised to learn that there has been a website in business for almost three years that serves as an alternative to the behemoths like iTunes.
A week ago, I randomly stumbled onto the website AmieStreet.com while I was searching for information on an Avant Garde string duo (they’re called Chess, for what it’s worth, and they’re awesome). I didn’t understand why the CD was selling for $10 on Napster’s newer, legal software and only $1.65 on Amie Street. My first thought, naturally, was that it was either illegal or malware. The answer, however, is demand based pricing. Every track on the website starts off, at most, 10 cents (often free). Then as people download it, recommend it, or listen to clips of it, the website uses an equation to gauge the demand for the song. As the demand increases so does the price; individual tracks top out at 99 cents. So in my case, Chess clearly didn’t have a popular album. The pro to this approach is really fresh, young music being just a click (and sometimes a free click) away; the corresponding con is that there is a lot of bad music to weed through. But the hunt is exhilarating.
I spent four hours on this website the first day I stumbled upon it. I decided that in order to keep myself from blowing tons of money really quickly, I would make a wish list and then pick and choose what I wanted to initially purchase. Oh, the best laid schemes…
No matter what you’re into, this website has it hidden somewhere in its depths. From The John Betsch Society to John Doe to John Wilkes Booth, even John Lee Hooker. For those of you unfamiliar with this cast of characters, they’re très different. Because Amie Street isn’t just interested in new, hip, experimental and sometimes admittedly ill produced music, Mos Def, The Eels, Belle and Sebastian, and the Barenaked Ladies all have albums and tracks on AmieStreet.com. The secret to Amie Street is to search for a specific sound, and not a specific artist’s name. They have an impressive Blues/Jazz section as well as a pretty good Comedy section filled with famous artists (George Carlin? Yes, please!). And to be honest, if you ever want a copy of a classical work, I would check this website for a free or cheap version before I looked elsewhere. Rap, Electronica, Bluegrass, and Religious are very well represented. The separation between these genres is immense and yet they all have a home on Amie Street.
When you register, the website sends you a playlist of 75 popular downloaded songs fo’ free. Weeding through them revealed great artists that I added to my and along with my imported Pandora.com preferences, I quickly garnered a wish list more unwieldy than I had anticipated. I also stumbled upon some truly awful music (think: your next door neighbor’s poorly produced piano renditions of church hymns), but the website really wants to help you discover their artists. Downloading music is all about searching for what you know you already like, but at Amie Street, it’s about branching out and finding recommendations and fresh jams. Sure the suggestions were off a few times – the program seemed convinced that I loved Caribbean style Electro-Pop and it also thinks that Queen and The Decemberists sound similar – but overall each rec added three or four more artists to my radar.
The way I usually shop is by deciding the maximum I’d be willing to pay for something and then if the price is actually lower or comparable, I purchase it. This method can present a problem when using AmieStreet.com, I found. One of the artists I had put on my list, Byron Pace, was good and I enjoyed his music, however it wasn’t love. But I had said that I would be willing to pay $2.50 for the 6-track album, and it was free. So I purchased it. Immediately afterwards I felt so….so…douchey. In front of my very eyes the price of the album jumped from $0.00 to $0.90. While that doesn’t seem like much, I knew that it meant that I might have just discouraged someone from purchasing his music who might have grown into a true fan. Since then some of his songs have grown on me more but I still don’t love it as much as my Sylvie Lewis purchase, or Consumption Junction, or Jukebox the Ghost.
Amie Street is really service-oriented and has a lot of great perks. I was pleased to discover that pre-paying $75 will win you $25 of credit. That’s a lot of music on this website! This deal is only good if you know you’ll be haunting the website like I plan on doing. At this time I decided to forgo the pre-pay option due to funds (or lack thereof), although I imagine eventually I’ll take advantage of the system. You can also re-download it later or listen online. Once you purchase music if you visit the listing you can hear the songs in full, and not just the clips others can hear. You can also listen to the full songs by accessing your “Library” from any internet connection. Fair warning! If you want to listen on your own music platform you’ll need an unzipping program like AlZip or WinZip.
Exploring this website was half the fun of the music. It’s also extremely time consuming. Pulling myself away from it long enough to write this review has been difficult, to say the least. Take that as you please. What was most surprising about this website was that it has been in existence for as long as it has and no one I talked to about it had heard of it. This isn’t the digital revolution I was imagining, but it’s not only legal, the bands that utilize it are grateful that their songs are being heard. I am more than happy to oblige. I wish I were a recording artist so I could review everything Amie Street does for its young musicians, too. I bet they’d be just as accommodating as they are to customers.
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