SEATTLE (www.weedshare.com) - Legendary rock group
Heart is following up their recent critically acclaimed CD with a new track available exclusively in Shared Media Licensing's shareable file format, known as "Weed(SM)."
The song, "Love Hurts," will be formally released this Friday with a featured position on Microsoft's WindowsMedia.com web portal. Earlier this month,
Heart released its entire new CD, "Jupiters Darling" in Weed format.
In addition, all of Heart's Weed files, including 'Love Hurts' and the 16 tracks on Jupiters Darling, will be promoted on Morpheus, the file-sharing and search software available at www.morpheus.com. The Heart tracks will be the first files distributed using Morpheus' new premium search functions.
Weed files can be played 3 times for free. On the fourth play, the listener is asked to purchase the song using the Weed software. Once purchased, songs can be freely shared with others. When someone buys a song, the person who shared it earns a commission for helping to distribute it. Files can be shared by any means, including web downloads and peer-to-peer networks, with rights holders earning 50% of every sale. Purchased songs can be burned to CD or transferred to portable devices.
"'Love Hurts' is a classic that's ideal for Ann Wilson's voice," states SML President John Beezer. "This is a studio version of a song that Heart most recently performed live on Country Music Television's Crossroads. The episode was appropriately titled `Women Who Rock.'"
Beezer notes, "Peer-to-peer networks are an extremely efficient way to distribute music. Rather than trying to eradicate file-sharing, the challenge confronting the music business is to develop business models that take advantage of the efficiencies file-sharing offers. Weed is a solution that makes this possible. Heart's record label, Sovereign Artists, (www.sovereignartists.com) is way out front on this."
Since the Weed service debuted in December of 2003, artists ranging from unsigned independents, to Grammy-winners like Sir Mix-a-Lot, and multi-platinum artists like Heart have embraced the Weed concept. "It's the only Internet distribution service that allows people to share music without shortchanging artists in the process," says Beezer.
