Is pureVOLUME the next mp3.com?
In the mini-goldrush to become the next site to suffer obscene bandwidth costs, offset only partially by banner ads and membership fees, pureVOLUME has become the leader of the pack. With its main focus on punk / indie / emo / hardcore etc., and its super slick design, I must say that I’m impressed. Additionally, it appears that users can make both permenant downloads of songs, or choose to stream them through embedded flash players on each band’s page. Fortunately, the quality of the flash streams is of mp3 caliber. PureVOLUME offers two plans for bands – a basic free service that allows up to 3 songs hosted, or a paid service that is $7.99 a month or $69.99 for an entire year, that provides up to 25 hosted songs, space for photos, show listings, featured spots on the main page, and much more. Any serious band I imagine should consider the paid package, and I already have notice a band of Fueled By Ramen bands are listed prominently on the index page. If there’s any band reading this who has dealt with pureVOLUME, drop me a line with some of your thoughts on the service thus far.
