Meebo, an IM and chat service, today announced marketing partnerships with DashGo, Nettwerk Music Group, Sparkart, and Wind-up Records.
The deals mean that ads will be added to the chat rooms and IM's of artists like Avril Lavigne, Evanescence, The Killers, Seether, Tim McGraw, Thriving Ivory, and Weezer. Meebo shares revenue from "integrated" SparkAds with acts embedding Meebo Rooms into their sites. Advertisers to date include Havaianis, Sony Electronics, Universal Pictures and Weezer.
COMMENTARY: While there's something satisfying about the Weezer...
getting promoted on Avril's web site, does any band benefit from association with the new Sony flat screen tv?
It's true that bands should implement better ways to communicate with fans. But web chat and IM are not new or expensive solutions. I'm sure Nettwerk could afford to have their web designers add ad free chat rooms. But in truth they all want to make the money. They'd probably argue that they need to make it somewhere so they can afford to give tracks away or offer them for pennies on Aimie Street.
Ad supported music in all its forms is very Music 2.0. But if I were an artist I'd ask myself exactly where and when I wanted my relationship with my fans monetized and interrupted by advertising.
