Stereokiller Updated With New Features, Allows To Sell Music Without Charging A Fee

TThe latest update from music hosting website Stereokiller is being touted by its owners as a real game changer in the market.

Key to the claims is the business strategy of allowing bands to sell music downloads and physical merchandise without charging them a fee to do so.

“Bandcamp, ReverbNation, and Topspin all take a cut of the bands’ money. Our audience consists of hard working, hard touring bands that usually support their own careers, so they can keep their money. We don’t want it,” said Chris Brickhouse, owner and operator of Stereokiller.

These are just a few of the latest changes in an ongoing effort to foster band development and promotion. New custom band pages make it easy for band’s to get a good-looking page up and running within minutes. The site allows bands to do live previews of the page before committing to the design, and the number of tracks a band can upload is unlimited, as is the amount of free downloads they can offer.

“It takes less than 10 minutes to be up and running with a full scale customizable profile, adding the music to your Facebook page, and selling your music and merch,” said Brickhouse. “I don’t think it could get any easier.”

The sales interface allows bands to manually add items, then facilitates a transaction (single or multiple) via PayPal. There is also the option to connect to display Twitter activity, list upcoming shows, embed videos, and update fans with news.

Stereokiller.com started in 1998 as a forum for Hardcore, Metal, Punk, Hip Hop, Emo, and Indie fans. It has since become a free music hosting site and community with over 250,000 members and 40,000 bands.

“We’re not trying to be the most popular. We’re just trying to be the best,” said Brickhouse. “I personally hand pick bands that sign up to feature on the main page. When you have so much talent out there, you really want to get the word out there about them.”

Other services, such as Spotify, also have their origins in beginning with a free service, but if Stereokiller.com’s success rises, will the free-to-sell model continue?