80 Proof Blog

One of the features I pitched to Bryan early on was full-length previews.  He agreed without any further discussion and it’s just been one of our bullet points ever since.  But it’s one that we worry might not make it to launch intact.

For users of our store (AKA “customers”), I feel there’s no question that having full-length previews makes for a better experience.  I never feel confident that I’ll like a song I’ve heard only a short clip from, as AmazonMP3 allows.  But our good friends over at Sector 9 Studios provide complete previews and I’ve found myself buying music there that I wasn’t otherwise expecting to enjoy simply because I was given the chance to try it out first.

Our concern is that some artists and labels will fear copying too much and not allow us to offer full previews of their music.  But it doesn’t make sense to us that people who would otherwise be paying customers might instead do the work involved in recording the previews on their own computers.  It should go without saying that for their effort, they won’t be getting full quality music or cover art.

There’s also some concern that ASCAP will storm in RIAA-style and hassle us on some imagined trespass in the form of rebroadcasting or one of their other restricted activities.  Bryan says, rightly, that we should be fine because we’ll have permission from the copyright-holders, but the actions of those two organizations have been often been astonishingly void of reason.

Ultimately our goal is to sell more music and we feel that full-length previews, in addition to being a classy way to treat users of our store (because we’re not calling everyone thieves) are extremely important when trying to sell music of exceptionally varied styles and textures to discriminating music fans.

How do you feel about previews?  Do they affect your decision to buy new music?  Musicians, do you feel comfortable with your own music being previewed completely before purchase?