Kim Dotcom gave us a sneak peek of his music streaming service Baboom last year and now the time has come for it to officially launch.
As of today the streaming service, which aims to compete with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, is available to all. Announced on Twitter and Reddit, the streaming service is inviting people to sign up and start creating collections on the Web and via its mobile apps on iOS and Android.
What makes Baboom different to other music platforms is its direct-to-fan model. Musicians using the service receive 90 percent of the revenue made through their music and can gain full visibility of all payments with the platform’s Fair Trade Streaming initiative, which aims to ensue all fees from sign-ups go directly to the artists they listen to.
There are two types of accounts you can sign up to as a listener – standard (free) and premium ($10 per month). A free account gets you unlimited listening (with ads), as well as the ability to create collections of up to 100 songs and you can still purchase any of the music you like from the site.
A premium account gets you unlimited collections, no ads, streaming across multiple devices, the ability to buy any music you like and exclusive experiences, which are not defined on the site.
Similar to Spotify, there is an activity page that lets you see news from artists you follow and access to gig listings or other upcoming events.
It certainly has been a long time coming as Dotcom originally announced plans for a music service in 2011. At that time, it was expected to launch within a year, then in 2013 and again in 2014. Dotcom eventually walked away from the project last October declaring that he was what had held it back.
Good bye @Baboom. I was holding u back. The music industry hates me. You'll do better without me. Good luck my love. http://t.co/eByCsUizmR
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) October 2, 2014
It will be interesting to see how well this platform is received by musicians and fans alike as it seems to have had a relatively small pick-up so far, however official figures are not available just yet.
It could be the case that Baboom might miss out on mainstream popularity without some big name artists on board, something that Dotcom could have potentially secured.
Read next: Third time’s the charm? Kim Dotcom is launching another file storage service
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