Djuzz the music – and it’s free

BuzzCity’s ad-supported mobile content portal Djuzz is now offering free indie music. ALLEN UMALI, Executive Producer of Djuzz, explains the how and why.

Djuzz, BuzzCity’s ad-supported mobile content portal now offers gamers more than just games. We have free music too! Just like the 13,000+ games and apps already on offer, MP3 files can now be downloaded by mobile users at no cost. But wait, hasn’t free music been the death-pin of sites from Napster to TubeFire (a Japanese site that is currently being sued for enabling users to download YouTube videos)? What makes Djuzz so special? Well, a lot of things make us stand out: in this case, we are focusing on indie music, which makes Djuzz a win-win proposition for artists and consumers.

What’s in it for musicians?

BuzzCity hosts, markets and promotes the music at no charge (just like what we do for applications and games). We act as an independent, non-exclusive distributor. There is absolutely no cost to musicians. But why would a band or solo artist want to give away its music for free? Imagine for a moment that you’re a singer in Kansas or Kuching for that matter and you find out that you can easily promote your music to millions of people across the globe, but you have to give away something for free. What do you do? Lady Gaga or the Black Eyed Peas might not go along with this, but the artists we’ve been speaking to, jump at the opportunity. For them, exposure is key.Only when a band is well-known on a national or international stage does their priority shift to restricting distribution. Posting music on Djuzz also creates new revenue opportunities. Just as game-makers offer both free and premium versions of their products, musicians can promote themselves with free tracks and sell albums. Or offer a track for free for a limited time, then sell it later. Plus tie-ins cross promotions with JamSked — our mobile internet directory of live music events and independent artists ‚ can drive new fans to their concerts. This is good news for promoters, venue operators and others in the music industry . . . not to mention the legions of music lovers who already frequent JamSked.

What about the music?

Personally, I like the tunes of rocker Anton Cosmo, whose dad was in the bandBoston. But if you’re in to a different, not to worry, 2800 tracks are currently on offer. We expect this number to rise rapidly. At the moment, the tunes are divided into 10 categories. But sometimes, we’re not quite sure how to classify a song, so I expect the number of categories will also increase. Just like apps and games, Djuzz highlights what’s hot and the latest tracks.

Click on an artist’s name and you’re taken to a profile page, which includes a photo, a link to their tracks on Djuzz and suggestions about related artists.

Why are we doing this?

Mobile consumers want content! And they consistently want to do more with their phones. Content developers meanwhile face high distribution costs. And we have great relationships to offer both groups. Expanding Djuzz to offer music as well as apps and games just seems like a no-brainer. Of course, we have our business reasons as well: good content means more users and more advertising opportunities, which in turn is good for our catalogue partners.

What type of content are we looking for?

Well, obviously, MUSIC. But there’s also plenty of space on Djuzz for apps and games. JamSked features gigs. And Now-Cook is the place to go for recipes.

Coming Soon! Videos and white label catalogues We’re rolling out both features in January 2012. The first Djuzz videos will be movie trailers from Hollywood to Bollywood and everything in between. And with white label music catalogues, partners can create their own branded mobile music sites and place ads on them to generate revenue. Prospective catalogue partners can start making enquiries now about getting content for their sites.

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