File-Cash, a new Mac compatible music sharing service, will launch tomorrow (June 1). One of the ways it will differ from Apple’s own iTunes Music Store is its focus on independent labels. However, the company feels that Apple’s online music business has opened up the possibilities for other such ventures.
“Every day there are new developments regarding digital music and online music sales, as witnessed by Apple’s iTunes Music Store,” Todd Stinson, founder of File-Cash, told MacCentral. “The industry is becoming more ripe for such a service. The major labels have pretty much dropped their hands and given up. The future of music definitely will include digital distribution through the Internet.”
He said that File-Cash will offer benefits for independent labels. In fact, indie labels are excited about the company’s business model, he added. It will purportedly offer a catalog of music from over 100 independent labels.
“We’re attracting companies such as MoonTaxi,” Stinson said. “The big five music labels will be conspicuous by their absence.”
The company plans to offer “financial incentives” for consumers to download registered files and co-host the files on their home computers’ shared directories. According to File-Cash President Bernie McGinn, copyright owners register their music into the File-Cash network via a Web-based control panel. They enter relevant artist and file information, search keywords, as well as set the price of the digital file. All files hosted on File-Cash will be encrypted with Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology.
You don’t need a subscription service to use File-Cash. You install a cross-platform application provided by the company to find and download files. Additionally, consumers will get a percentage of the file price every time another consumer downloads the file from their shared drive, according to McGinn.
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