The French site Beezik just opened. This interesting site proposes an alternate distribution scheme for music.

Beezik allows to legally download songs for free! Yes, you pay no dime! And it is legal. The announced size of the catalog is about 2 million songs. And they offer some of the current blockbusters. (when exploring some of my favorite performers, I often found (in the style of …)? Nevertheless I found some original interesting titles.

So where is the trick? The clearly announced one is the mandatory exposure to advertisement. Once you selected your song, you have to choose among 4 advertisers. During the download time of the song, the ad is displayed full screen. If you reduce to window size, the download of the song is interrupted. In other words, your computer is “blocked” to display an ad during the download time. The obvious thought to escape advertisement is “Ok, lets go drink a coffee or a coke, or whatever you want, I’ll come back later”. This does not work. Once the download completed, you have 6 seconds to click on the screen in order to launch the screen that saves the song on the computer, else you loose it.

Thus, it has been wisely designed to maximize the advertisement exposure. This has strong value for advertisers. Of course, your selection of ad, plus your selection of songs will allow to profile you. Thus, increasing the value of the ad. Well done.

There are a few non announced limitations:

• The songs are protected by Windows DRM 11; So long for iPod afficionados.
• The licenses are valid for one month. Each time you download a song, it extends all licenses for a new month. If you did not download during the month, you loose all licenses (it seems that licenses are not renewable later, you have to download again the obsolete song). Once more, this monthly obligation of download is a nice trick to increase advertisement exposure.

Two nice tricks:

• Beezik does not sell any song. Nevertheless, it displays the value of the song. This enforces the feeling that you make a good bargain. 1 minute of ad for 0.99€
• The more you download, the more points you gain. The points can be converted in coupons for sponsors.

Beezik explores an interesting business model. It has been well designed to offer the highest value for advertisers. Are you aware of similar sites elsewhere? If yes, please send the pointer.

Would you use such service?

P.S.: Beezik is only available for France and Monaco (at least currently)