To finish off How To Split An Atom’s Invite Day, I thought I’d try to get a hold of a few Grooveshark invites. Grooveshark is a peer to peer music distribution network that is currently in closed ALPHA (Disclosure: I do some consulting for them). Well, I have spoken about them several times before as an exciting new model in music sharing but generally it is better to try these things out to really get a feel for them. After some legwork, I have managed to get a “few” invites to the service that I will share.

Grooveshark

What is Grooveshark? The basic premise is that you have a platform to discover, share and purchase music. Think of it as a combination between Last.fm, Limewire and iTunes with a twist. What is that twist? Well, you get compensated for each song that you share. That means that if you upload a great new artist and I happen to download a copy of the song from you, not only do the copyright holders of the recording get their cut but you also receive a portion of the cost of each song.

I very rarely choose to spend time on any project in the highly contested music space, but Grooveshark seems to have some teeth. They have already signed deals with several major labels including MagnaTunes, V2 UK and the classical music label Naxos.

The current implementation of the service is rough, but even now it’s more elegant than other services at this stage in their development.

Web 2.0 Roundup

If you want to know more about the project, I suggest that you give their site a look. If you want an invitation, leave a comment here, message me on twitter or use the handy contact form. I’ll give them away on a first come, first serve basis until I am out.

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