Tower Records is getting into the podcasting game.
The struggling retailer will introduce its TowerPod service at the South by Southwest Music Festival next week—a series of free downloadable podcasts supported by advertisements.
The first phase of the service being unveiled next week will consist of 10 – 15 podcasts produced by Tower itself. Later this summer, the company hopes to expand the service to let customers create their own podcasts from a library of songs aggregated by Tower specifically for podcast use.
This library today consists of 6,000 tracks, mostly provided by the Independent Online Distribution Alliance’s Promonet service. Promonet music has been pre-cleared by the providing labels for distribution on music blogs, podcasts and other music portals for promotional purposes.
TowerPod also features an advertising revenue model that all involved will share. Partner Outhink Media, which provides the technology behind the service, is selling advertising on each podcast, with revenues going to the label, publisher, Tower and itself. Once the public begins creating podcasts as well, they to will share in the profits.
For podcasts streamed from the TowerPod site, a “buy” link will be added to each song, allowing listeners to order the full CD of that artist from the Tower Online store. If Tower doesn’t carry the CD, it will still facilitate the sale on behalf of the participating label.
