Library uses Magnatune for All-you-can-eat music

The Library system of Ann Arbor, Michigan is now making all of Magnatune's catalog available to all its 107,000 library members.

Essentially, what the Library has done is negotiated with Magnatune for a download membership for all their library members.

In an article in the Ann Arbor Chronicle, the journalist wrote:

One of the most promising new digital offerings is available through Magnatune, a digital music publisher. AADL recently negotiated a deal with the firm for about 12,000 songs – or the equivalent of about 1,200 albums, Choate said. The service offers unlimited, simultaneous downloads with no waiting. The Magnatune page on AADL’s website describes it this way, in what appears to be an oblique reference to Overdrive: "You shouldn’t have to jump through 17 flaming hoops in order to access digital content, so we’ve tried to make the process as simple as possible." Since launching about three weeks ago, over 11,000 tracks have been downloaded, Choate said. Parker noted that these are independent artists – you won’t find music by the current hot performers – but there’s a wide variety of genres, from world music and blues to hip hop, classical and alt rock. She said the music is appealing in a community like Ann Arbor, where alternative music is valued. The AADL doesn’t pay per download – rather, the library paid a $10,000 flat fee in a licensing agreement that runs through June 30, 2012. So the more times the service is used, the lower the cost is per use. It’s a very cost-effective service for the library to provide, Choate said.

Especially impressive is the fact that the Library's IT department has made a gorgeous browsing/streaming/downloading interface, with social networking features and musical categories from our information data feeds. They even noticed the Creative Commons licensing that applies to our paid downloads and applied that same license on their library music site and allows the library members to reuse our music as they see fit.

Here are some screen pictures of the fine work they've done:

The article goes on to say:

AADL has the infrastructure in place to provide these digital services, Choate said. They’re pursuing deals like the one with Magnatune, with fixed costs, unlimited downloads and annual licenses. The library is interested in getting the most use out of its collections, she said, while containing costs – they don’t want to pay per download. Responding to a board member’s query, Parker said there’s never enough exposure for what the library offers, but that when they launch something like the deal with Magnatune, there’s no shortage of information about it. Social media networks are playing a huge role in spreading the word about AADL’s deal with Magnatune, and earlier in the day, Parker said, they got a call from Library Journal, which is interested in doing an article about the agreement. People who are only interested in mainstream music – like the kind licensed by Sony – might not be interested in what’s available via Magnatune, Parker said. But it’s not worth it for the library to strike a deal with Sony – it would cost them almost as much as retail.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled about both the license ($10,000/year is good money for us), the fantastic job the library did in presenting our music, and look forward to working with more libraries in the future.

-john

Comments

[Teco]

I'm so happy for you John!!! I used to be a subscriber, but I'm unemployed right now. What you are doing with your music should be an example for The whole industry!

[Spike Page]

Making Magnatune available to library members may not seem like a "big deal" to people who do not have access to that particular library system, but it symbolizes a new outside-the-box thought process and shows that libraries are not just stuffy old buildings full of irrelevant books, as some people might believe.

I see the libraries of the future taking up the role of providing community enrichment that our public schools seem to be falling short of. While many libraries still face funding troubles (I have two sisters who are librarians), it makes me glad to see somebody willing to take a bit of a gamble on a new approach to serving the public. Rather than giving in and cutting back, they're expanding horizons and hopefully re-establishing the public library's place in the modern media age.

MAGNATUNE ROCKS!

[Sanford]

This is great! John you should add a fb share button to pages like this. I want to spread the news...

[paul]

I like Moodmixes too. I can hardly wait til I have a hotel chain with 1000 room hotels in 1000+ locations, If I download a 24-hour mix every day in FLAC quality, it looks like my monthly cost is $7650000. Might a small discount be available? ;-) (Of course for more realistic setups the prices are very reasonable).