There is no end of the work Peter does…. as evidenced here.

WE7 press room

DREAM TEAM LAUNCHES NEW AD-FUNDED MUSIC DOWNLOAD SERVICE

2007-04-29

Peter Gabriel, tech entrepreneur Steve Purdham and finance guru John Taysom announce We7

Today sees the launch of a new technology and music venture www.We7.com, a download service which offers free ad-funded music that people can share and play on any MP3 player.

Music legend Peter Gabriel has joined forces with technology entrepreneur Steve Purdham and financial authority John Taysom, to launch We7 which is currently in beta, with the dynamic download service launching at the beginning of June.

Advertising attached to the music will ensure that artists receive royalties for making their songs available, whilst consumers will receive and share DRM-free music legitimately.

We7 works by dynamically ‘grafting’ ads onto the front of music tracks and albums based on a consumer’s personal demographics such as age, location and gender and can be extended into personal preferences.

If consumers want a track with no ad, there’s an option to buy the track at normal price, however if they want a track that is free, legal and their favourite artist gets rewarded, then We7 add a short advert. Ads don’t remain attached to the tracks forever – after a period of time users will have the choice to have the track ad free.

The website will also offer new artists more access to fans and the chance to earn royalties for their music provided it is good enough. Only if enough members of We7’s TasteMaker community feel that a new band or artist deserves to be published will that artist ‘win’ the right to be downloaded thus ensuring the quality of music published.

Everybody who signs up to We7 can join the site’s TasteMaker community and decide what’s good and what’s not. Bands will also be able to perform peer review of other bands.

Peter Gabriel, Musician and Founder Investor We7, comments: "We7 provides artists – even across the more experimental or minority genres – with the opportunity to build a new source of income from their music. Ad funded downloads are the way to provide free music to the consumer without depriving musicians of their livelihood."

Steve Purdham, Founder Investor & CEO We7 adds: "In the can’t pay won’t pay digital world where consumers expect ‘free’ content, the idea of WE7 is simple: artists get paid, music fans get free downloads and advertisers get heard. Also under the battle cry of ‘Don’t Steal it – We7 It’, the We7 model removes a key driver of music piracy: cost."

He continues: “Paid for free’ content allows us to offer customers tracks free from DRM, something we believe presents a barrier to evolving the digital market. Our goal is to create an organic, digital music community where our users can share music and are placed in complete control of the content they see and hear, but at the same time rewarding the music rights owners and therefore driving the digital music industry forward.”

Gabriel has a proven track record with music technology projects, after funding and launching OD2, the digital service provider, in 1999 OD2 was sold Loudeye which in turn was bought by Nokia last year.

Purdham has founded and built global technology companies, such as SurfControl plc which was worth £1bn at its peak valuation.

Taysom founded the Reuters Greenhouse Fund in California and his investment track record also includes a number of successful technology ventures including Yahoo!, Verisign, and Advertising.com.