McCoury Music launches new online music download service

Nashville, Tenn — Most of the major record labels are still reeling from year after year of declining CD sales and lost revenue now that the digital era has arrived. Many labels still aren’t offering any real alternatives to customers other than iTunes and similar knock-offs. Del McCoury and his label, McCoury Music, are attempting to change that with the launch of a new service. The McCoury Music Club is an alternative to what many perceive as an outdated business model for the music industry in today’s marketplace.

It’s not a shock that Del McCoury is at the forefront of change.

McCoury’s made a career out of being a little different. He’s marketed the Del McCoury Band and bluegrass music to people and places you’d least expect to find success as a traditional bluegrass artist. Earl Scruggs… and more pointedly, The Earl Scruggs Review may have been the last big name from Bluegrass to market their music outside the traditional confines of the world of bluegrass and have any amount of success. And even then, The Earl Scruggs Review was a far cry from the hardcore traditional sound that has been the staple of McCoury’s career.

The McCoury Music Club will be a one stop shop for all your McCoury Music needs. The new service will offer $100 memberships that will cover you for a year. While that may seem a little steep to some, McCoury Music will be offering its members a download of 1 recent live concert recording each month that McCoury Music has selected. They also plan to sweeten the deal from time to time by offering other standout tracks from their archive and the occasional studio track.

All club members will receive one live show download per month for a full year. The show will be selected by McCoury Music and in most cases will be from a recording made within the previous 60 days, but occasionally we may slip in a special show from the archives that we don’t think you can live without. We also plan to reward members with occasional extras such as additional tracks from shows that were just too good not to share, or a studio track here and there exclusive just to you.McCoury Music Club

The offerings are currently available as MP3 file and are DRM (Digital Rights Management) free meaning they should play everywhere and on any device. A spokesperson from McCoury Music said, “After things get up and running, we may have some changes to make,” in response to an inquiry about what audio file formats the downloads will be offered in.

The idea for this type of service is not necessarily a brand new one, though I’m not aware of anyone in bluegrass taking this approach to increasing their revenue sources and their bottom line. I’ll be curious to see how this plays out. I think it will take an established group, such as the Del McCoury Band, to find any level of success with a service like this.

for more information visit http://www.mccourymusicclub.com/