Michael Robertson, feisty CEO of MP3tunes, announced the launch of Sideload.com, the result of his secret "Oboe" project that enlisted the help of programming prodigy DVD-Jon. Sideload.com is a music locker service that stores MP3s of free music online. Although, the service has a strong anti-copyright infringement user agreement, copyrighted works by U2 and others have already appeared on the service which will certainly raise the ire of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other infringement concerns making Sideload.com a target for legal battles in the future.

MP3tunes Locker window

Although, Robertson touts the site's ease-of-use, and flexibility, we found it to lack a concrete description of the service, unless you begin the registration process, and to be a branding nightmare. MP3tunes has three branded entities: Oboe, MP3tunes and Sideload which will muddy the visitor's perception of exactly which brand does what. Registering is simple and I was able to "sideload" a bouncy house remix of Cee-Lo's "I'll Be Around" very quickly. I registered for the free service, which gives you the ability to sideload and listen to the music that you've legally or illegally acquired. However, for $39.95 per month you can score the Premium service that comes with a beta version of the Oboe Software Suite allowing you to sync your locker's contents to and from your computer. The Premium service will even work with iTunes 6 allowing you to sync all your music from within iTunes, without running a separate program. Very slick.

MP3tunes, Sideload, Oboe...whatever, also comes with an excellent browser plug-in for Firefox and Explorer. The plug-in allows a user to simply click a "SL" button next to an online music file found on a web page and it will be sideloaded directly into their locker. Again, very polished. "Sideloading, moving files from the net directly to online storage without the pit stop at your local computer, will become commonplace as people grow accustomed to personal lockers and the security, ubiquity and versatility of online storage," states Michael Robertson. "As music lovers find songs in Sideload.com's ever-growing collection, they'll also enjoy the power and convenience of free online music storage."

Sideload.com will also house a most popular sideloads music chart on its homepage. As users add tracks to their locker, Sideload will track which are the most popular and list them accordingly. This is where Sideload will get into trouble. Many of the most popular tracks were copyrighted songs by U2 and other top artists who's labels are not going to be too happy about sideload.com showcasing web pages online where users can obtain these tracks illegally, and then store them in an online locker. The whopping 10 page user agreement has copyright infringement language: "You agree that you will not upload music and content, and will not request that any music or content be uploaded to your account maintained on the Site, that infringes the copyright or other intellectual property rights of any third party." But the online storage of illegally obtained copyrighted works opens the door to a multitude of lawsuits.

The Most Popular Sideloads chart on Sideload.com

We asked Robertson how he was going to combat the anticipated legal onslaught. "Sideload is no different than Google, Yahoo, Webjay or any other search engine/index," Robertson replied. "Under the DMCA, they have protection as long as you adhere to a take down policy which we do. If I'm a copyright owner I would like tools that point me to where my music is being distributed so I can make sure it's legit."

And then there's the old proverbial question of how is MP3tunes/Sideload.com/Oboe going to make money? So we asked Michael specifically: How are you really going to make money? And what we got was vintage Robertson: "Let me tell you a story. When I started MP3.com and I decided we would offer free hosting for bands with unlimited storage and bandwidth. Everyone said I was crazy. "You'll go bankrupt!" was the cries from the experts. What I knew then was the cost of storage and bandwidth was dropping precipitously. So fast forward a few years and we had grown the world's largest digital music site with no music from the major labels and sure enough bandwidth and storage dropped in price so much that the business was very practical. Today every media web site does free hosting. It's assumed as a valid business model. Times have changed."

A comprehensive, ubiquitous locker system would be a tremendous asset to many who want a single online storage shed for their music, television shows and movies. The concept is solid. However, is a locker service a company, or is it a feature? Would MP3tunes be better off as a great addition to MyYahoo, AOL, or Gmail? Is it enough of a convenience to shell out $40 bucks a year instead of loading your content to your iPod via iTunes? Will the United States' litigation economy kill Robertson's dream before it becomes a reality? Will Robertson's chest pounding and saber rattling provoke another major label pile on? These are all questions that need to be addressed before MP3tunes can become a profitable concern.

The Future: The biggest problem for Robertson and MP3tunes/Sideload.com/Oboe, beyond branding, is that it stinks of piracy. The hiring of DVD-Jon coupled with Robetson's past only puts a big, fat bullseye on his back. Major labels still smarting from Robertson's cocky announcement that their business "was dead," are going to line up to kick him in the groin.
In addition, even though the sideload concept is provocative, the truth is that there really isn't that much great music online for free. No entity demonstrated this fact better than MP3.com, Robertson's former music company, which was a virtual trailer-park of mediocre music. MP3.com never launched a major artist's career and was sued into oblivion when it introduced their Beam-It service, Robertson's original locker concept.
What's going to happen is that Sideload will become a Peer-To-Peer (P2P) staging ground for users who want to illegally obtain copyrighted works. MP3tunes/Sideload.com/Oboe claims that they will remove any link to copyrighted works online, but in no way will they be able to keep up with the all files that are going to populate their chart, especially in outlaw nations like Russia. The RIAA will find it much easier to try and shut down MP3tunes/Sideload.com/Oboe instead of sending cease and desist letters to website owners and Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
If Robertson and company can make it to their first birthday, look for mobile phones, TiVo and other wireless gadgets to be able to access the MP3tunes locker.

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