My friend Bass Reeves tipped me off to this new download service at burnlounge.com. This site has problems. The fact that any of the major partners would campaign for this site (or invest capital) baffles the mind. Really. Burnlouge sucks.

Here’s Why:

Even though the initial concept of personal referrals is a strong one to build a business enterprise upon, these people don’t get it. There is very limited personalization for your own “record store”. There’s only a small text banner on the page signifying that it’s YOUR store. The rest of the page space is devoted to whatever new release Burnlounge chooses to market to your viewers.

The categories are a joke. They are general as hell for anyone knowing even an iota about the music they listen to. Even in a category as small as the Blues, there are so many different flavors of Blues. Chicago, Delta, Gospel, etc…The only way anyone will be exposed to new stuff in their very limited catalog is to find it by accident. There’s just no way to drill down into subcategories.

The user interface is clunky. Furthermore, it takes 3 clicks to get to a track listing for any album.

Now here’s the big one: You CAN NOT play any tracks purchased on Burnlounge on your iPod. This is bullshit and a totally irresponsible business practice. To discount millions of iPod users is plain old dumb and destined for an underground buycott, even if they allow it in the future.

The website itself isn’t even Mac compatible. It actually says that it requires IE to view. But, IE on a Mac just displays a blank page.

The Burnlounge model is based on multi level marketing. You get paid a whopping 5 cents for every track sold. Burnlounge makes the rest with a hefty license fee going back to the label. How much of this cash makes it’s way back to the artist? 1,2 cents MAYBE?

The site is another example of the over 40 crowd completely missing the boat on the new music industry.

How much cred do you think this site with have with the REAL music buying demographic? Zippo.

There are a litany of other reasons why Burnlounge should be ignored, but these are the broad stokes.

Burnlounge is destined to be the Amway of music sales…and avoided just as much by consumers with a brain.

Prognosis: Burnlounge will die from its own cancer within the year. Cause: Greed and stupidity.
The cure? Keep on burnin y’all till a real solution comes along.

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