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Napster to offer Instant Live tracks
Music service teams up with Clear Channel subsidiary to let users download live recordings of select bands.
Napster users on the hunt for live recordings got a dose of good news today, as the download service signed a deal today with Instant Live, a maker of instant concert recordings and a subsidiary of concert giant Clear Channel Entertainment.
The exclusive agreement calls for Instant Live's catalog of live recordings, including tracks from the Allman Brothers Band, Bauhaus, and the Black Crowes, to be available on Napster.
Napster subscribers, who pay between $10 and $15 per month, will be able to stream or download the live tracks, and users of Napster's a la carte download service will be able to buy individual live tracks for 99 cents each.
"Our partnership with Clear Channel's Instant Live gives music fans the opportunity to see a great concert and then go home and download it on Napster," said Chris Gorog, Napster's chairman and CEO, in a statement.
Instant Live, founded about two years ago, sells live concert recordings on CD as soon as six minutes after a performance ends. The cost of the CDs is between $15 and $40, depending on the length of the show.
Fans can also buy live recordings on Instant Live's Web site, and now Napster users can listen to or download songs from a small number of bands.
The deal's biggest obstacle is convincing artists to sign on. So far, Instant Live's catalog is limited to artists who are friendly to recordings of their concerts, those without record deals, or those on independent labels. The Black Crowes and Allman Brothers Band have been Instant Live's top artists to date.
In September, the company signed a deal with Universal Music Group to sell concert recordings by Universal recording artists with their permission.
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