GarageBand iTMS

[hotwire132002]

I do a lot of web design, and I'm wondering if people would be interested if I set up an indie iTMS (call it iNdie? Tell me if you have a better name!) anyway, I thought it could post independant artists' GarageBand songs (like this one (http://stoid.spymac.net/music/near_fantastica.mp3)) and charge somewhere in the range of $.49 per song, with all going to the artist. If I set up a site like this, would anyone be interesting in using it?

[stoid]

Wow, you actually linked to his song! I know quite a number of people (including myself) that would be interested in purchasing his music. He's working on making a full CD, and I'm on the list for a copy of it already.

[Jovian9]

I would definitely be interested in purchasing indie music.....and maybe posting my own. I know a lot of people who would be interested in this also.

[howard]

i'd have to see how it turns out but if its a success i would definitely be interested

[crenz]

But if all goes to the artists, how are you going to finance the site?

[howard]

But if all goes to the artists, how are you going to finance the site?

thats what i was wondering...and a site like this could get huge, you'd need so much space to store peoples songs

[hotwire132002]

thats what i was wondering...and a site like this could get huge, you'd need so much space to store peoples songs

I could either use donations, or half and half (half to artist, half to support site)... that would mean 32 songs and I'd pay the month's hosting.

[hotwire132002]

I could either use donations, or half and half (half to artist, half to support site)... that would mean 32 songs and I'd pay the month's hosting.
(It costs me 8 bucks a month for an 800 meg hosting, its a start...)

Even if I needed a dedicated server, if it gets huge its $49 a month for a 40 gig server with 500 gigs bandwidth. If you're interested, I'll get started on the site. Tell me what you think.

[rueyeet]

Heck yes, I would be very very interested in seeing what GarageBand has really done to make music accessible to the masses....as well as to the talented souls out there who may have been languishing due to lack of studio funds! My mind keeps going back to how little equipment it took Trent Reznor to get Nine Inch Nails started....

A couple questions: I'm guessing you wouldn't be licensing FairPlay, so the music would be without any DRM? No authorizations, restrictions, etc?

Would the format still be AAC? If so, what sample rate?

Also, would it be a requirement of the site that any music up for sale must have been made on GarageBand? Or would you allow stuff started in GB, and completed in other software, or just any song that GB has touched somewhere during its production?

But yes, go for it! definitely!

GoDaddy reports that indieMS.com is available, if you're going to flirt with angering Apple's legal department. :)

[hotwire132002]

Heck yes, I would be very very interested in seeing what GarageBand has really done to make music accessible to the masses....as well as to the talented souls out there who may have been languishing due to lack of studio funds! My mind keeps going back to how little equipment it took Trent Reznor to get Nine Inch Nails started....

A couple questions: I'm guessing you wouldn't be licensing FairPlay, so the music would be without any DRM? No authorizations, restrictions, etc?

Would the format still be AAC? If so, what sample rate?

Also, would it be a requirement of the site that any music up for sale must have been made on GarageBand? Or would you allow stuff started in GB, and completed in other software, or just any song that GB has touched somewhere during its production?

But yes, go for it! definitely!

GoDaddy reports that indieMS.com is available, if you're going to flirt with angering Apple's legal department. :)

I would go with anything that used GarageBand somewhere in production. (Based on honor system, I'm not going to go and get confirmation on every song to make sure GarageBand was used.) As for FairPlay, my opinion on music is you own it, you can use it however you want. I'm not going to worry about copy protection.

I think I'll get started designing the site this weekend. Anyone who wants to help fund it ($8 per month is what I'll need...), tell me. It'd be very helpful, but if nobody wants to help me out, that's fine.

Anyone with ideas, tell me please! If you have a song you'd like in the store that used GarageBand, email me at eric@coresoftcomputers.com. I'm thinking it'll cost 49 cents a song. (Maybe half and half, just so I can support the web hosting cost? If I sell more than 32 songs a month I'll cut it.)

[ExoticFish]

i'm thinking about getting an album together from stuff i've done. not all with garageband but eh. this has interested me for a while and i was actually thinking of doing something similar but none of my other friends have been interested thus far. their problem was that they wanted their music to be free, which i'm all for and i'll probably only charge for a hard copy, so they wanted it set up so that their music could be available for free if the artist so chooses... i completely understand and support that but with the cost of such a site it would be hard to do something like this.

just rambling. :D

[hotwire132002]

i'm thinking about getting an album together from stuff i've done. not all with garageband but eh. this has interested me for a while and i was actually thinking of doing something similar but none of my other friends have been interested thus far. their problem was that they wanted their music to be free, which i'm all for and i'll probably only charge for a hard copy, so they wanted it set up so that their music could be available for free if the artist so chooses... i completely understand and support that but with the cost of such a site it would be hard to do something like this.

just rambling. :D

I like the idea of artist sets the price, but it might require a banner ad on the site. Don't worry--no pop-ups, I can't stand 'em! I'd prefer to do donations over ads, but I don't know if anyone would want to donate...

[stevietheb]

I think this is a fantastic idea. If the songs were good enough, I'd download 'em--I'd also contribute some of my own. Cool cool cool...

Would there be an opportunity to at least sample the songs, like in iTMS?

[rueyeet]

Once you have a site design, let me see it and if I like, I will supply some degree of fundage. Perhaps the domain registration cost, for a full year or more, and/or the hosting setup cost (if any) in exchange for letting me keep an email account there or something. My username here is also my email at AOL, so if this sounds acceptable, let me know.

Interesting about what to charge....if you allow bands to determine price, that may quickly drive customers to the free/low-price bands and marginalize the higher-priced ones. Tricky for the bands that truly believe that their music should be free (which is their right). However, there ARE hosting and distribution costs associated with offering downloads, and one would think that they wouldn't object to helping towards that if they're getting exposure in return. It's not like there's DRM involved.

Maybe two-tiered pricing: One very low price for "free" bands that just covers the expense of putting them up there, and then one higher price for bands that want some revenue. In other words: Help cover our costs to keep your music up here, with the option of getting x cents per song you sell if you wish. Of course this would have to be calculated so as not to burden either option unfairly.

But there's some attraction too to the iTMS's (former?) policy of everyone getting the same deal, same cost, same treatment, so that everyone's playing on the same ground.

I don't know....any ideas?

[cjc343]

Ok, here's my spin on pricing.

You said that half of 49 cents would go to the site, so, artists can price their songs as low as 25 cents. They will not receive any money, but the hosting cost will be covered. Bands can also choose to charge more, but the more they charge, the more that goes to the site, so if they wanted to make 50 cents per song themselves, the price would be $ (or more).

Just my idea.


Oh yes, default would be 49 cents.

[brhmac]

How will you accept payment?

If you're going to take credit cards, you'll be paying fees to Visa, MasterCard, American Express, etc. So you'll need to take this expense into consideration.

[rueyeet]

Yes, the hosting would have to allow a merchant set-up. And I would think that along with major credit cards, PayPal would be good to have. I'm not sure how complicated all that would be, or how much server space would be needed to host the songs. It's probably a fairly big and complicated thing, actually.

Here's another question: What would draw a person to a GBTMS, when there are at least two major sites offering free GB creations for download? You'd want to know that before putting money down for domain/hosting start-up.

[hotwire132002]

I came up with a great name... indieTunes!

My only issue is Apple's Legal department. Do you think it's similar enough for them to sue me?

[hotwire132002]

I came up with a great name... indieTunes!

My only issue is Apple's Legal department. Do you think it's similar enough for them to sue me?

Strike that, reverse it: indietunes.com is taken by one of those stupid "buy this domain" dealios. How about independantTunes? Plus, it's less similar to iTunes than indieTunes, which means that Apple is less likely to sue me! :D

[rueyeet]

Depends on how strict they're being, I guess....the indie part is completely safe, and tunes is general enough without the "i" to not confuse anyone, which is the basis for most lawsuits. Of course, without any association or similarity at all, it's hard for prospective customers to grasp "website to buy songs created with GarageBand."

I might say that "indieTunes" doesn't sound like a place to buy GarageBand songs, but you might want to expand if this works out well, so that might be a good thing.

I have to say, MacJams ('http://www.macjams.com/') and iCompositions ('http://www.icompositions.com/') have some pretty decent looking sites. iCompositions also allows hosting-like options....

[brhmac]

How about independantTunes?

Not trying to be a buzz-kill...

independEnt ;)

[hotwire132002]

Not trying to be a buzz-kill...

independEnt ;)

i cnt spll :D

Seriously, though, I just rely on spell check.

[hotwire132002]

I consulted my lawyer (AKA Dad :D Handy) and he said that independentTunes is likely to get me sued. What do you think about GarageSale?

[rueyeet]

GarageSale.com, .net, and .org are all taken.

Finding a domain name now is a pain. Every common word and combination of words is long gone, and all letter combinations of four letters or less is gone too. I've been trying to come up with something for my personal use for months now that's not too long, not too specific (or negative-sounding), and that will work for friends, family, and prospective employers. Still can't find anything workable AND available.

I recommend pulling up some registrar's domain search box, and trying everything you can think of....it'll give you some idea of the kind of stuff that's not already taken.

From my own little bit of research:

Available domain names:

indieMS.com, .net, .org
indieGB.com, .net, .org
garageMS.com, .net, .org
gbtms.com, .net, .org

Not available:

indie.com
gbms.com
gbmusic.com
etunes.com

.com taken, .net/.org available:

gbtunes.com (.net, .org available): forum for GB users
gbstore.com (.net, .org available): Gun Broker online store!
gbsongs.com (.net, .org available): Domain for sale: squatter

[stoid]

Here's another question: What would draw a person to a GBTMS, when there are at least two major sites offering free GB creations for download? You'd want to know that before putting money down for domain/hosting start-up.

The chance to support an artist that you like. The free download sites do not help you support the artists whose music you enjoy listening to. Granted, logistically it's a nightmare, and I'm sure that's where the majority of Apple's profits go, to getting all the behind the scenes financial crap taken care off that the average user doesn't even consider.

[unfaded]

How involved would Garageband have to be? Because my band's EP (www.stockautopilot.com) was almost completely NOT recorded on Garageband, save for a couple of lead guitar parts which were recorded, and appeared on the 2nd mix of the album (which is what we are selling now...and I will admit, without those lead parts the album would not be as good).

So, Garageband definitely helped but wasn't the main driving factor. Would it be allowed or not?

[hotwire132002]

How involved would Garageband have to be? Because my band's EP (www.stockautopilot.com) was almost completely NOT recorded on Garageband, save for a couple of lead guitar parts which were recorded, and appeared on the 2nd mix of the album (which is what we are selling now...and I will admit, without those lead parts the album would not be as good).

So, Garageband definitely helped but wasn't the main driving factor. Would it be allowed or not?

It would be allowed. In fact, I'm thinking I'll allow any indie artist on board. I just thought it would be a great way for garageband artists to publish their work (BTW, I'm naming it GarageSale Music Store. Like it?)

[hotwire132002]

I'm trying to design a logo for the GarageSale Music Store (the now-official name) I've got a jpg of the classic GarageBand Guitar atttached, anyone with an idea for a logo can PhotoShop it up and post it. Or, just tell me your idea and I'll try to make it work.

http://www.coresoftcomputers.com/transfer/Guitar.jpg

[cjc343]

I am working on a logo (or rather have been working on a logo) and will post a pic soon.... meanwhile, if you want to save time, check whether Apple has copywrited the pictures of instruments on the "about GarageBand" page...

[cjc343]

ok, I have finished, and it isn't great..... I still have it in seperate layers, so I can edit every instrument, the background, the sign, and the text...

Suggestions?


I am not sure it is quite the right theme even, and maybe I shouldn't have done the whole mock garage sale thing, so tell me what you think, and I will either create a new one, or edit this one, or not even bother...



I am not posting the full quality version, if you want to use the pic as the logo (and Apple didn't copywrite all the instruments) I will send you the full version so you can choose the size...


Was overlapping some instruments a bad idea?

Personally I think it is a POC but that is mostly because I made it...

one more thing.... some of the instruments look like they are hanging in mid-air.... I doubt this is just me who sees this, so if you have any pics you think might help prop up some instruments, I would like to have them...

[cjc343]

Oh yeah, is the sizing correct on all the instruments?

[powermac99]

Just curios, why make people pay for what they can get for free at iCompositions?

[hotwire132002]

ok, I have finished, and it isn't great..... I still have it in seperate layers, so I can edit every instrument, the background, the sign, and the text...

Suggestions?


I am not sure it is quite the right theme even, and maybe I shouldn't have done the whole mock garage sale thing, so tell me what you think, and I will either create a new one, or edit this one, or not even bother...



I am not posting the full quality version, if you want to use the pic as the logo (and Apple didn't copywrite all the instruments) I will send you the full version so you can choose the size...


Was overlapping some instruments a bad idea?

Personally I think it is a POC but that is mostly because I made it...

one more thing.... some of the instruments look like they are hanging in mid-air.... I doubt this is just me who sees this, so if you have any pics you think might help prop up some instruments, I would like to have them...

I like it, but I think it's a bit on the complex side for a logo. I'm thinking something like add a "Sale" tag to the guitar. (I tried it, buit it looked like crud. I'm not much good with PhotoShop) BTW, the guitar image I have is NOT the one from Apple, so they don't have copyright on it. Anyone with any more ideas, post 'em here.

[hotwire132002]

Just curios, why make people pay for what they can get for free at iCompositions?

As discussed before, so you can support the artist.

However, I actually didn't realize how many free sites are out there, so I'm working on a new pricing system. (Maybe free downloads and a "support this artist" donate button? What do people think of that? I could also add the option for some free with support buttons, some paid downloads...)

[hotwire132002]

As discussed before, so you can support the artist.

However, I actually didn't realize how many free sites are out there, so I'm working on a new pricing system. (Maybe free downloads and a "support this artist" donate button? What do people think of that? I could also add the option for some free with support buttons, some paid downloads...)

In fact, I'm not sure if there's much point in this idea after all. When I came up with it, I didn't realize how many sites there were for GarageBands songs. But, as many people have mentioned, there's sites like iCompositions with free downloads, and, as many more have mentioned, who wants to pay when you can get for free? I dunno... tell me what you think...

[hotwire132002]

In fact, I'm not sure if there's much point in this idea after all. When I came up with it, I didn't realize how many sites there were for GarageBands songs. But, as many people have mentioned, there's sites like iCompositions with free downloads, and, as many more have mentioned, who wants to pay when you can get for free? I dunno... tell me what you think...

Or I could start another free download site... Tell me what you think...

I came up with a logo:http://www.coresoftcomputers.com/transfer/guitar.jpg

Tell me what you think.

[rueyeet]

I think it reuses too many Apple logo elements to be entirely legally safe (though it's much cleaner than the earlier "garage sale" themed one). :(

Garage Sale Music Store is a good name--it evokes both garage bands and GarageBand, yet is general enough to not be limited to either. If it were me I might consider dropping the "store" and just make it Garage Sale Music ("store" is redundant when you've already got a "sale" going).

I do wonder how well this would do when there are so many free sites out there...but! Extend the concept beyond GarageBand and Apple and just go for the "no-label online music distribution for the rest of us" concept and you could have something pretty successful. You could be the only place online where just anybody could go and put up however many songs (or just one!) without having to worry about CDs or albums.

My brain isn't clicking for logo ideas....it keeps trying to show me a vinyl record with the iTunes-like notes on it. :p

[hotwire132002]

I think it reuses too many Apple logo elements to be entirely legally safe (though it's much cleaner than the earlier "garage sale" themed one). :(

Garage Sale Music Store is a good name--it evokes both garage bands and GarageBand, yet is general enough to not be limited to either. If it were me I might consider dropping the "store" and just make it Garage Sale Music ("store" is redundant when you've already got a "sale" going).

I do wonder how well this would do when there are so many free sites out there...but! Extend the concept beyond GarageBand and Apple and just go for the "no-label online music distribution for the rest of us" concept and you could have something pretty successful. You could be the only place online where just anybody could go and put up however many songs (or just one!) without having to worry about CDs or albums.

My brain isn't clicking for logo ideas....it keeps trying to show me a vinyl record with the iTunes-like notes on it. :p

I think a vinyl record with an iTunes note is going to be even worse legally than my logo :( Anyone with any ideas that won't get me sued, tell me!

BTW, I like your idea. I think the site will allow any indie music to be posted. I'm going to start working on it as soon as I finish this thread.

[hotwire132002]

I'm working on a payment method because PayPal charges 30 cents per transaction.

I have a few ideas:

1)Monthly bill
2)Subscription (like $9.95 per month for up to 20 downloads or something)
3)Charge an extra 30 cents per song

If anyone had a better idea, tell me.

BTW, I'm thinking www.garagesale-music.com since garagesalemusic.com is taken. What do you think?

[powermac99]

Hey hotwire,
you've got some great ideas and a real drive to make something great. If you're interested, we would love to have you on the iCompositions team (depending on qualifications ;) ). Maybe we can work together to make a "Support the Artist" service in our Auditorium.

The big problem now is that sites like iCompositions, MacJams, and MacIdol already have a very good hold on the market. Newcomers are going to have a very difficult time becoming successful (and one in particular already is even when giving away $1000).

Email me at admin@icompositions.com

[cjc343]

Well... I like your logo much better than I liked mine.....

[hotwire132002]

I'm worried about Apple suing me for the logo. Anyone have an idea for something that won't get me sued?

[Flowbee]

I'm worried about Apple suing me for the logo. Anyone have an idea for something that won't get me sued?

[hotwire132002]

True, it won't get me sued, but what's it got to do with Garage Sale Music (other than the text at the bottom...) :confused: I will say it's certainly an interesting concept...

[dober2002@liber]

I do a lot of web design, and I'm wondering if people would be interested if I set up an indie iTMS (call it iNdie? Tell me if you have a better name!) anyway, I thought it could post independant artists' GarageBand songs (like this one (http://stoid.spymac.net/music/near_fantastica.mp3)) and charge somewhere in the range of $.49 per song, with all going to the artist. If I set up a site like this, would anyone be interesting in using it?

[dober2002@liber]

I'm trying to design a logo for the GarageSale Music Store (the now-official name) I've got a jpg of the classic GarageBand Guitar atttached, anyone with an idea for a logo can PhotoShop it up and post it. Or, just tell me your idea and I'll try to make it work.

http://www.coresoftcomputers.com/transfer/Guitar.jpg

[unfaded]

I still support the pay site. Why would artists post to the free sites when they can get paid for their work? Artists are clearly not going to put music on BOTH of them, so you can't get the same, necessarily, from iCompositions.

[dober2002@liber]

I'm trying to design a logo for the GarageSale Music Store (the now-official name) I've got a jpg of the classic GarageBand Guitar atttached, anyone with an idea for a logo can PhotoShop it up and post it. Or, just tell me your idea and I'll try to make it work.

http://www.coresoftcomputers.com/transfer/Guitar.jpg :eek:

[hotwire132002]

:eek:

I like!

[Flowbee]

Better?

[hotwire132002]

Better?

Still interesting...

I think if I do start the site, I'll go with the rippled (glass filter in PhotoShop?) Guitar logo.

I like yours though. Interesting.

[hotwire132002]

Better?

On second thought, I might go with it. Who knows?

[ratspg]

mp3.com offered free services, and artists were capable of making money by selling singles or albums. aside from being 'garageband produced' , what is this service offering? Fill me in, im interested, but I just want to know what would be different.

[Spaceman Spiff]

How's this for a simple logo?

[dober2002@liber]

[dober2002@liber]

The important thing is to make the people understand that an artist effort must be payed (even a little) and not copied or given away...

[hotwire132002]

How's this for a simple logo?

This I like too.

[hotwire132002]

mp3.com offered free services, and artists were capable of making money by selling singles or albums. aside from being 'garageband produced' , what is this service offering? Fill me in, im interested, but I just want to know what would be different.

I personally never visited mp3.com, but I know it's down at this point. GarageSale Music Store would be quite similar to mp3.com by the sound of it. However, I may not do the site after all. I'll post why in a bit.

[tjwett]

i can't imagine buying music from any of the GB artists i've heard on the web. for one thing, all the songs sound the same. they all use the same bundled loops and sounds that come with GB. second, many of the tunes are rather lame. i know it's a learning tool and all that but i don't see the fun in listening to someone learn. would you pay money to watch a band practice? and lastly, the production quality coming out of most of these recordings is pretty bad. and there is no mastering whatsoever. i couldn't imagine someone releasing an album like this. there is way more to making music than putting loops together until they make a song. i think the only people who are psyched on these tunes are other people using GB. if there are enough of you out there to make money with this than go to town. i don't know any real music fans who will be spending money there though. also, who is handling all the legal matters? like copyright, licensing, etc. who's stopping people from just stealing this music and doing whatever they want with it? are the artists going to be required to join ASCAP or anything?

[hotwire132002]

i can't imagine buying music from any of the GB artists i've heard on the web. for one thing, all the songs sound the same. they all use the same bundled loops and sounds that come with GB. second, many of the tunes are rather lame. i know it's a learning tool and all that but i don't see the fun in listening to someone learn. would you pay money to watch a band practice? and lastly, the production quality coming out of most of these recordings is pretty bad. and there is no mastering whatsoever. i couldn't imagine someone releasing an album like this. there is way more to making music than putting loops together until they make a song. i think the only people who are psyched on these tunes are other people using GB. if there are enough of you out there to make money with this than go to town. i don't know any real music fans who will be spending money there though. also, who is handling all the legal matters? like copyright, licensing, etc. who's stopping people from just stealing this music and doing whatever they want with it? are the artists going to be required to join ASCAP or anything?

If you think GB music all sounds the same, with bad production quality, you obviosuly haven't heard GarageBands songs like this (http://www.icompositions.com/auditorium1/showphoto.php?photo=569). (Yes, it was done in GarageBand)

[crenz]

If you think GB music all sounds the same, with bad production quality, you obviosuly haven't heard GarageBands songs like this (http://www.icompositions.com/auditorium1/showphoto.php?photo=569). (Yes, it was done in GarageBand)

Well, that's not such a good example. I wouldn't want to buy the track. Some issues:


Offering this cover for download without a license from the original copyright holder is illegal, AFAIK. Even when it's for free.
Very clearly MIDI Guitar. Lacking dynamics. (All strings, all chords have the same velocity? Hello!?). Especially bad: What is supposed to be the 16th chord strumming patterns. Sounds more like a record stuck.
Very clearly MIDI drums. Lacking dynamics also (especially bad: the tom breaks). Plus I find the drum licks much too cheesy.
The intonation of the voices is audibly off.
Tracks are not so well-aligned in the mix.
etc. etc.


I don't want to imply anything about their or my own talent by criticizing the song, just want to show the issues. Also, I'm a bassist so I can't forgive them the bad bass slide at the beginning :p

[Flowbee]

However, I may not do the site after all. I'll post why in a bit.

I think that would be a very wise decision. I've listened to a lot of the songs on the free GarageBand muisc sites, and there have only been a couple that I would even remotely consider paying for (and they were both by the same guy). Considering a lot of people still have trouble paying 99 cents for 'professional' tracks from the iTMS, I think you'd have a hard time convincing people to pay for home-brewed GarageBand tracks. And if your store was even moderately successful, you'd need to hire an accouting staff to keep track of the royalty payments... and a legal staff to watch out for copyright infringment... perhaps a bigger project than you origanlly had in mind.

[powermac99]

How about this song:

http://www.icompositions.com/auditorium1/showphoto.php?photo=727

It's well made, no loops, and has very high quality.

[tjwett]

If you think GB music all sounds the same, with bad production quality, you obviosuly haven't heard GarageBands songs like this (http://www.icompositions.com/auditorium1/showphoto.php?photo=569). (Yes, it was done in GarageBand)

meh. well, it's obviously a good SONG. it was written by a Beatle for crying out loud! however, this version is not something to get all chubby about. yeah, the guy has a decent voice and all that but what about the instrumentation? the drums are wack and most of it sounds like some kind of GM (General MIDI) synth. further more, selling this on a website for money would land someone in MAJOR trouble.

[tjwett]

How about this song:

http://www.icompositions.com/auditorium1/showphoto.php?photo=727

It's well made, no loops, and has very high quality.

well made? yes. no loops? i wouldn't say that. do you think there is actually someone playing those drums? even the Rhodes sounds like it could be loops. very high quality? well, if most of the instrumentation was indeed played by hand, then yes, the quality of the musicianship is decent. but, consider it as an artist release, sounds a bit cheezay doesn't it? if it were in a record store it would be in the "easy listening" section.

not to crap on the person who made it or anything, the playing (if it's real) is pretty good. but again, it's not very original in style or composition, or anything. it's basically the music you would hear on an infomercial or on the channel that shows you the t.v. listings. there is of course a market for this kind of music, there are many musicians who make this type of music and sell it for uses like i mentioned above. but people aren't exactly carrying this kind of stuff around in their iPod or following easy listening acts around on tour.

another thing to consider is that most sounds in GB come with preset settings and fx already on them. the loops were recorded professionally and were polished before they even hit your hands. so, it's kind of hard to NOT sound decent. and the greatest thing about synths and samplers is creating your own sounds, ones that never existed before.

[rueyeet]

Though it may be that this would never get off the ground (at least not as a GB-only concept) I did have an idea on pricing.

Do it the same way the big corps do it: Ad-supported, free-to-the-listener radio, and then a store to buy what you like. Any artist who signs up must agree to have their stuff put up on the site's streaming radio station, then if you like what you hear, you go to the store part and buy the track.

Sure, anyone can use a utility to rip the webcast or put a file they buy up on the file-sharing networks, but they're not the ones who want to support the artists anyway.

Of course, such speculation's all probably moot now. :(

[punkmac]

I do a lot of web design, and I'm wondering if people would be interested if I set up an indie iTMS (call it iNdie? Tell me if you have a better name!) anyway, I thought it could post independant artists' GarageBand songs (like this one (http://stoid.spymac.net/music/near_fantastica.mp3)) and charge somewhere in the range of $.49 per song, with all going to the artist. If I set up a site like this, would anyone be interesting in using it?

YESS!!!!! :D My wife has a CD/DVD for sale.

Are you familiar with Garageband.com? It has nothing to do with Apple, but very interesting website. You review artists songs for the option to upload your own. The more you review the more songs you can upload.

I.