Guvera

KennyKenny
edited April 2010 in General
Has anyone tried guvera.com yet?

My account was just activated today (I registered a month ago) and I love it. I got two great albums for free: Arcade Fire's Neon Bible and the new Alice in Chains record (which is fantastic).

For those new to Guvera, there are a ton of ads (that's how they pay the artists), but they are a free, legal music download site. They currently have music from EMI, Universal, Virgin, Capitol, and a few big indies (like Domino, Asthmatic Kitty, ATO, and Merge).

From billboard:
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i6baa5818ddcc27e12ea74981d0c6db86
«134567…74

Comments

  • KennyKenny
    With Guvera having both EMI and Universal and eMusic having the other two majors and most of the indies (with so much free music from Amie Street on top of that), there is no need to pay iTunes prices again.
  • NankerPNankerP
    Yeah, I have been playing with it. I got some tracks the other night. But is there an easier way to get a whole album than buy getting each song individually?
  • thomnottomthomnottom
    Hmm. Just signed up. Gave them all sorts of personal information so that they can track my every move. How long 'til my free stuff comes in?
  • cafreemacafreema
    That's a weird site. I'll give it a shot, though.

    Craig
  • KennyKenny
    They are activating accounts pretty slowly (apparently, they can only have a limited number of accounts due to the limited amount of free downloads paid for by its sponsors). That said, it's totally worth the wait. It's free music. It's pretty hard to argue with that.

    The site is still a bit of a mess, but it's beta and I'm sure they'll work it out. If they can become profitable, I think this could be a really great thing.
  • cafreemacafreema
    Well apparently the wait is getting shorter. My "insightful pre-registration at Guvera.com in 2010 has landed [me] a VIP beta user account."

    I'm so special!

    Craig
  • thomnottomthomnottom
    Holy horrid interface batman... I'm working on getting The Week That Was for starters. How do you get more credits? Anyone know?
  • cafreemacafreema
    How many did you get thom? It looks like I have 9, but I'm not positive on that.

    Craig
  • Plong42Plong42
    Did anyone find a way to search by genre?
  • thomnottomthomnottom
    I think I got 2.2 credits. Or 20. Seriously it's like 2.2 in 7 channels but 2.01 in the other 3. Does that make sense to anyone? I'm trying to find a song worth 0.01 credits!
    Did anyone find a way to search by genre?
    HA!

    Oh wait, you're serious? The only search method I would recommend is clicking on the browse button and looking throught the artists they list. Even some of them came up empty.
  • cafreemacafreema
    Ah, I think I'm at the 20 or so level too then.

    Thus far I'm seriously not impressed with Guvera, but it's free so I won't call it a RIPP OFF!!!

    Craig
  • DoofyDoofy
    I signed up, God knows what I signed up for though. I'm going to tell my first-born to keep her eyes open over the next few days.
  • KennyKenny
    Basically, to start you get 10-20 free songs (each credit from each channel is worth a song; you'll have some leftover) from their selection (click Browse Artists for the majority of them). What is there to complain about? It's free.

    Apparently, credits will refresh as sponsors pay more--which may happen every few weeks.

    There is so much great stuff for free: Arcade Fire, Alice in Chains, Dirty Projectors, Sebadoh, Yeasayer, Massive Attack, the BEach Boys, Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, Swell Season, and so much more.
  • NankerPNankerP
    Interview with the CEO of the thing here
    http://www.waycooljnr.com.au/2010/03/29/qa-with-claes-loberg-ceo-of-australian-music-service-guvera/
  • Bad ThoughtsBad Thoughts
    I tried downloading eight tracks so far, but three of them came up with empty content. Bugs a plenty.
  • thomnottomthomnottom
    My only complaint is that the horrid interface could put it out of business before it gets a chance to really go anywhere.
  • DoofyDoofy
    edited April 2010
    OK, I think I get it. You get a couple of credits for being "insightful," search for what you're interested in, go to "channels" where you see ads, then you can DL songs one at a time. Pretty much work. Presumably more credits magically appear at some point.

    No, wait! You have a few credits at each of the different channels, so if you click around you prob. have enough credits to get the whole album. I have to say, if they think they are going to sell me "Gossip Girl" merchandise they have some work to do on their ad matching.

    edit: OK, I'm all caught up. They have Blue Note, so any credits they want to give me I am good to go. So far I would have to say my favorite channel is Victoria's Secret.
  • NankerPNankerP
    Here is a Guevra road test at an Australian music blog.
  • DoofyDoofy
    If you are like me, some new "channels"/credits have shown up in your Guvera acct, so have at it.

    Meanwhile, happened to notice Amazon is boasting an exclusive Blue Note Vault of previously OOP titles...many of them on CD-R (but apparently not in mp3?? Interesting.)
  • cafreemacafreema
    Well, I finally grabbed something with my Guvera downloads. I'm very happy to grab Los Campesinos! for free, but I just don't see this business plan working long term. They also need to work on their tags.

    That said, I suddenly have a strange desire to buy things from Victoria's Secret and watch "Gossip Girl".

    Craig
  • KennyKenny
    Loving the site, but I wish I would get more credit more often.
  • DoofyDoofy
    I've been taking advantage of Guvera to load up on Blue Note, which of course is unavailable on eMusic. There's no album pricing, so those 2- or 4-track jazz albums are a good value for your hard-earned Guvera credits. I have gotten several free jazz things, eg, Grachan Moncur and Don Cherry, thanx to Calgon, Jack in the Box, and Gossip Girl.

    So obviously it is working for me, but I wonder how many casual music fans are going to be willing to work this hard to find and DL songs they want. I also find their "no more piracy/no one prosecuted" angle a little off-putting.
  • Plong42Plong42
    >I've been taking advantage of Guvera to load up on Blue Note

    How did you *find* the Blue Note albums? I used the service in the first few days and found searching to be a pain.
  • DoofyDoofy
    edited May 2010
    Plong, I searched by artist. I did a label search on Amazon to find things I might want...in fact that's how I found the Amazon "Blue Note Vault" mentioned above.

    The hinky search is exactly one of the reasons I think users who are not like us (ie, music junkies) are going to find this more trouble than it's worth.

    Let's see if linking to search results works: https://www.guvera.com/search?q=artist:+%22don+cherry%22 (edit: it does if you're signed in)
  • Plong42Plong42
    Excellent, I successfully download a Don Cherry, Unite from Where is Brooklyn. I think I can complete the album without too much more pain. Thanks for your help.
  • Plong42Plong42
    I've managed to get all the Don Cherry they had and a Grachan Moncur album.

    Anybody figure out how to replenish credits? (Am I wrong in hoping I get more credits for watching Victoria's Secret videos?)
  • thomnottomthomnottom
    I went into a Victoria's Secret the other day and asked the young saleslady if she could help me out with The Bird And The Bee. She slapped me and threatened to call security. Guess I'll never find out if their new album will be on the site...

    In all seriousness it seems like as more people sign up, the advertisers give them more money, we get more more credits... profit!
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    edited May 2010
    Thanks for the heads up, I signed up last month and totally forgot about the site. Picked up the 2 Moncur albums and 4 Don Cherry Albums.

    Coltrane's Ascension album is to be had for only two downloads too. Live At Carnegie Hall by the Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane is worth very much worth getting if you don't have it (9 tracks).

    It took me a while to figure out that the 2 credits or so given was per sponsor.

    Has anyone had more credits added to their account?
  • frogkopffrogkopf
    Looking further, they have lots of Pink Floyd, most of the classic 70s Eno albums, and Tubular Bells 1 & 2 (part of the box set, but labeled original) - don't worry about part 2 being listed at under 3 minutes.

    Their site seems pretty buggy though - at least half the tracks I played stall out, and I lost a couple of credits due to download failures.
  • Plong42Plong42
    I was annoyed that two albums were not tagged at all. I guess I can forgive not having proper album art, but no tags at all is just lazy. Hard to complain about free, though.

    Buggy and Slow is the best way to describe it. I think it took most of the day to get 8 tracks, one at a time.
Sign In or Register to comment.