Major record labels target blogosphere

The service, Play MPE , has been running successfully in the U.S. for five years.

It provides an alternative method for record labels and artists to get their music played and reviewed by a range of media outlets, rather than sending out individual music CDs.

D-Star has completed a two-month trial that it said has resulted in at least one user account per commercial radio station.

It also claims to have 100 community radio stations on board, although these are harder because individual announcers are usually responsible for selecting their own music, as opposed to the playlist being managed by a central music director.

D-Star is now looking to target music bloggers, according to Stephen Green, project manager for Play MPE at D-Star.

“Bloggers are a market segment that major labels probably haven’t necessarily interacted with at a promo level as successfully as they do with traditional print media,” Green told iTNews.

“Labels are looking for solutions to get promos out to these people. We’re trying to build a blog list that is as inclusive as possible.”

Receiving free promo music is not as simple as getting on the D-Star list.

Record labels still have final say on who they send music to – however, labels are not currently being selective, according to Green.

“As labels get used to the system, most people are still getting sent everything,” said Green.

“As time goes on, things will get targeted a lot more.”

It is also still up to the individual bloggers to maintain a relationship with the label to ensure they keep getting material, said Green.

D-Star claims to have five years’ of back catalogue available on the service. Music is hosted in the United States, but there are ‘local mirror sites’ to ensure Aussie bloggers get a good download experience.

Currently, about 500 Aussie tracks have been uploaded to the service.

D-Star expects to attract between 50 and 100 music bloggers to use the service.

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