Tune-up for Bebo

28-03-2007

by Ciara O'Brien

Social networking site Bebo has teamed up with 7digital to launch a new music download service for its members.

Under the new deal, Bebo's 31 million users will be able to download music directly from the website using 7digital's indiestore service.

7digital has created a special widget -- a graphical interface or 'button' -- that will integrate into Bebo and indiestore seamlessly. The widget will list all the tracks that the artist has on indiestore and lets visitors listen to the tracks on the band's profile page. If listeners want to download a track, they can be transferred to the band's 7digital store at a click of a button.

In true Bebo style, the widget can also be shared among members, giving it a viral nature that is popular on the social networking scene.

Using 7digital's widget, independent artists and labels can sell their music directly from their Bebo pages in different currencies, and can also sell tracks by SMS billing.

The company has done its homework, given Bebo's young age profile, as a good proportion of its users are unlikely to have unfettered access to a credit card.

The Bebo Bands artists have a choice of two account types -- a free Starter indiestore account, which allows them to sell four tracks, or a Pro account, which gives them the chance to sell 20 tracks.

Sales from the indiestore Pro account will also count towards official charts in the UK, US and 20 other countries, giving small independent artists and bands the chance to make an impact on the charts.

It was only a matter of time before someone came up with a way to take advantage of Bebo's immense popularity among young people. The social networking site is popular with bands, with more than 450,000 band profiles listed. Bebo has members in Ireland, Britain, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, thus giving these bands a global reach.

The two companies are, quite naturally, enthusiastic about the agreement.

"Artists can be successful and break into the charts now with minimum outlay; they just need a reasonable audience," said Ben Drury, managing director of 7digital. "The partnership with Bebo brings the functionality of the 7digital platform to millions and gives artists mass exposure -- it's great news for all."

It's not just for small, struggling artists either --- Muse and The Killers are just two of the bands who have taken advantage of the new service.

"We're adding more than 3,000 new bands and artists each day and affording individuals a voice to express themselves and share their music and passions with likeminded people," said Joanna Shields, president international of Bebo.

"Music remains a defining part of the Bebo network experience and our partnership with 7digital will present additional value to our users allowing them to not only discover, but purchase music on Bebo."

This could also help the site to keep its dominance over rival MySpace, which recently stole a march on it by signing a mobile deal with Vodafone, bringing social networking to users on the move.

In this respect it's worth noting that although only 59 percent of Irish homes have PCs, mobile phone penetration stands at 111 percent. However, MySpace was only the primary choice of social networking site for 3 percent of Irish teens, according to the National Centre for Education in Technology, leaving the way wide open for Bebo.