Universal Music Partners With Freeallmusic.com

According to techcruch.com, Universal Music is partnering with new music download service freeallmusic.com to offer consumers legal, DRM-free, high-quality digital downloads at no charge from its massive catalog, which includes Taylor Swift, Sugarland, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and more. Here’s the catch: registered users on freeallmusic.com have to sit through a 15-30 second video commercial for every download. Downloads will be offered to users 20 free per month, five per week, starting every Tuesday. Brands participating are Coca-Cola, Warner Bros, Zappos, Lionsgate, LG, and more.

“It’s iTunes meets Hulu,” says Richard Nailling, chief executive of FreeAllMusic in an article on nytimes.com. After downloading music, users will have the opportunity to post the information to their Facebook and Twitter pages in hopes of recruiting more users for advertisers.

The service is currently in private testing mode, but interested users can sign up to receive an invitation when it becomes available. Aside from Universal, one other yet-to-be-named major label has signed to provide its full digital catalog on FAM. Check out the freeallmusic Twitter for updates on the company’s launch.