CommonBits: CommonMedia Launches DRM-Free Music and Video Stores

CommonTunes and CommonFlix offer new distribution capabilities for musicians and video producers

We've added e-commerce capabilities to CommonTunes and CommonFlix essentially creating the first digital-rights-management-free music and video stores powered by BitTorrent.

The CommonTunes music store allows musicians and authors to sell and distribute their songs, albums and audiobooks. Songs sell for 99 cents. EPs, albums and audiobooks range in price from $4.99 to $29.99.

The CommonFlix video store allows independent media producers to sell and distribute their shows, movies and documentaries for playback on desktop computers or video iPods. Videos range in price from 99 cents all the way up to $49.99. CommonFlix also has a page for selling content for playback on video iPods.

Both stores were designed to work well as an adjunct to the pre-existing Web-sites of musicians, bands and media producers while solving the problem of providing e-commerce for sales and bandwidth for distribution. Sellers simply upload their content to the CommonTunes or CommonFlix site, then link to their store pages from their own Web site.

CommonTunes and CommonFlix manage the shopping cart and credit card transactions. Customers download their purchases from our store via BitTorrent, so there is nearly no distribution cost. This is especially critical for video producers who until now have not had a simple solution for selling and distributing indy-shows and movies. Both sites still support the free exchange of publicly available music and video content.

Here are a few common scenarios:

* Your band, Lucy Bland, sells its individual songs or albums at its CommonTunes music store band page. Fans visit your band's Web site and click over to CommonTunes to add songs to their cart and check out. The fans download their purchases via BitTorrent from the CommonTunes site.

* An independent video producer creates a "television" series and sells episodes at CommonFlix for $1.99 each to defer production costs. Fans visit the show Web site and link over to the CommonFlix store page for the show e.g. http://www.commonflix.org/tag/your-show to purchase episodes and download them via BitTorrent.

* An independent filmmaker sells their movie at CommonFlix for playback on a desktop computer or a video iPod. The filmmaker mails CommonFlix their DVD to have it ripped and encoded in the proper formats. The filmmaker emails their friends and fan list that they can purchase and download the movie at CommonFlix e.g. http://www.commonflix.org/mymovie

* An environmental non-profit offers electronic sales of its documentary collection from its Web site, linking visitors to CommonFlix to handle the purchase and download. The non-profit raises money from the sales without having to pay significant shipping or distribution costs. As an example, we've put up Thomas Linzey's Seattle lecture on Corporations and Democracy in video and iPod formats.

* A video iPod owner wants to find some cool independent film or shorts. They visit the CommonFlix iPod store and purchase and download whatever they want. The video iPod page currently offers a mix of free and inexpensive content.

* A music enthusiast visits CommonTunes and picks and chooses music and audio to download to their computer via BitTorrent. CommonTunes manages the transaction and distribution costs. The musicians earn money from the sales.

How it works

Content providers earn 70% of the net proceeds (item cost minus credit card fees) from their sales. Revenues are paid quarterly via PayPal.

Audio can be uploaded directly to the CommonTunes site. MP3 files are recommended for individual songs. ZIP archives are recommended for albums.

Video can be uploaded directly to the CommonFlix site (up to 100 MB). Mail us your DVDs and we'll upload it to the store for a small fee. You can also provide it to us via download from your own Web site.

Visit the iPod video store to see examples of lectures and fun clips for your iPod.

Learn more about selling music and video at CommonTunes and CommonFlix or just visit either CommonTunes or CommonFlix to get started.

We believe that DRM-free music and video provide the least restrictions on customers while placing trust in them to use their best judgment when sharing or advocating the work that they care about. Learn more about digital rights management at Wikipedia or watch a lecture by Cory Doctorow on intellectual property rights.

You can read more about BitTorrent at Wikipedia or our getting started guide.

We are excited to bring these new capabilities of sales and distribution to independent media producers. Please let us know what you think of our work. You can leave comments here or email us.

If you want to support our work, consider purchasing a membership or making a donation. Funds help pay for expanded bandwidth and time from our programming intern. We'd also like you to check out CommonTimes, a news site generated using social bookmarking technologies.

Please help us get the word out to independent media producers and your friends and family. Thank you for your continued support.