Social music marketplace Amie Street has closed a Series A round of financing led by Amazon.com, along with some new partnerships and a site redesign. The amount of Amazon’s investment and the terms are not disclosed.
We’ve been big fans of the model and the recent investment shows Amazon is too. On Amie Street, music is not sold for a flat rate, but rather fluctuates based on demand for the song. Artists upload their music (DRM free), which users can download at a starting price of free. As a song’s downloads increase, the price starts to rise, all the way up to $0.99. If a song gets to $0.30 or so, you know its popular. The artist keeps 70% of revenues after the first $5 in sales. SellABand also has a socially driven music monetization model.
Users are rewarded for recommending hit songs with credit for purchasing additional music on Amie Street. The more popular a song becomes after a member has recommended it, the more credit he or she receives to spend on music.
The company has now grown to 12 people and out of their Long Island house to office space in Long Island city.
No doubt, Amazon’s recent payments system seems an ideal fit for the site as well.