What happens when P2P meets Pay-To-Play? Grooveshark, apparently. The just announced service will combine P2P distribution and Web 2.0 style crowdsourcing .According to the press release, Grooveshark will function much like popular P2P file exchanges. Members will be able to offer their media library for sale through Grooveshark and discover and share new music with other members (only MP3 or OGG files without DRM). The difference: Grooveshark will broker music transactions by charging up to 99 cents for each song downloaded and use those proceeds to pay royalties to the copyright holders and reward members for community participation.
It remains to be seen how serious of a proposition GrooveShark will be. The selection will no doubt be limited by their decision to eschew DRM, but the concept itself is pretty sharp. We'll definitely be keeping an eye on Grooveshark as they work to launch their new baby.
