1. I commented on this on my blog (http://dwlt.net/archives/2004/10/20/TradTunesLaunchesNeedsFixed and http://dwlt.net/archives/2004/10/21/OtherTradTunesProblems).

As a Scot, I'm pushing the new generation of companies here to take part in marketplace in the same way that North American companies do via blogs and RSS; whether they listen or not is a different matter!

I've sent all this to TradTunes, so we'll see what they come back with...

Posted at 5:58AM on Dec 19th 2005 by dwlt

2.
We appreciate your comments, and would like to address the points that you have raised.

We have built TradTunes to serve the traditional, Celtic and roots music markets, and have consulted with artists, labels and regulators as we set this site up. TradTunes has been designed to provide information specific to this music genre, and as the site develops this will, we hope, become an encyclopedic site for lovers of this music genre.

In terms of the points that you have raised:

We anticipate the catalogue to expand significantly over time. Over 1,000 tracks will be added next week and we expect this to increase significantly over the next few months. We anticipate that this will hit over 50,000 within the next year.

The 30 second audio preview are at 128Kbps.

Virtually all albums cost $9.99. There is more pricing sensitivity concerning individual track prices. Some will be priced at more than 99c - the reason that this will happen in this music genre, is because there are many tracks that are long, and as a result some albums contain only eight tracks. From an artist's perspective, they are providing value, but to be able to buy the individual tracks for less than the price of an album is highly unfair, and we are experiencing concerns about this within the music community. Much of our catalogue is not available on the content of the mainstream providers, and I think that we will find individual track pricing which will take account of longer music sequences, which, in our view, is absolutely fair and right.

The advantage of using a credit account is that purchasers can then buy tracks individually using purchase credits. Unfortunately, the high financial transaction charges that we have to bear for individual track purchases mean that we cannot offer the facility to buy individual tracks directly using a credit card.

I hope that this addresses the concerns that you have raised. We appreciate the feedback, and hope that we can continue to deal with any concerns expressed by our customers or the media.

Posted at 5:58AM on Dec 19th 2005 by John-Angus Smith

3. I just discovered Trad Tunes last week and am very impressed at its catalogue. Where else can I get good trad music? There are a wealth of albums here that i want and at £7.99 I think that's a bargain and 79p a track is also very good. All these large download sites with there pop/rock/country stuff don't shake a stick at Trad Tunes as far as I'm concerned, keep on with it boys - I love you!

Posted at 5:58AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Sue Donnellan