Burnlounge is a company that is BARELY 6 months old... and from what I can tell, the marketing is primarily twofold and is designed to spread by a community driven, word of mouth approach.
Basically unheard of before (in fact I even read somewhere here that Petra only gets a few cents for every CD sold), artists can now get 40 to 70 cents on the dollar for material on Burnlounge. So, the average cost of an album is $9.99 on Burnlounge. Every time it's downloaded, the artist makes $4.00 to $7.00 depending on what the artist has negotiated with Burnlounge (NEW releases, of course... backlog acquired from the major companies like EMI do not apply). That's REALLY darn good and the key of what will make it grow is artists like Brian Duncan, who will soon be releasing a new song on Burnlounge on a weekly basis, then mail blasting it to his extensive mailing list, letting his fans know that they can download his new music on Burnlounge. As Burnlounge grows, Indie bands can get unprecedented distribution such as the California based 'Press Play' Christian rock band that's already gotten over 20,000 downloads. Not bad for an Indie.
For the fans (non-artists), the hope is that they will realize buying from Burnlounge puts more money in the pocket of the artists they enjoy, but also gives them the opportunity to start their own online music store featuring the music they love... such as rap stores, country stores, Christian rock stores, or even Petra stores. Not only do the artists they love get a bigger percentage of the proceeds, but so does the store owner. As an independent retailer, the individual gets paid a nickel for every song (single track) downloaded from Burnlounge and about 50 cents for every album. Though admittedly it isn't a whole lot, it's more than you get for downloading music from Itunes or any of the other outlets... especially when you consider it's music the individual didn't write, record, produce, etc. I make 50 cents when someone buys a Madonna album from me.
Plus, there is the multi-level marketing avenue that we all know and love, which allows you to sponsor other stores, make a percentage off their sales, who sponsor other stores, and other stores, and so forth, until you become a millionaire in 4 months. Okay, maybe not, but it IS a cool system and I've already gotten my first checks. It's not for everyone, that's for sure... and frankly, not everyone will see the benefit for themselves as fans, but artists are jumping on to this thing like there's no tomorrow.
Jackson Browne, Brian McKnight, Metallica, Hootie and the Blowfish, Kevin Max, Ted Nugent, Sheldon Reynolds (formerly of Earth, Wind, and Fire), are just a few of the artists involved with Burnlounge as the investment is small and the potential is limitless. Check out Ted Nugent's blurb about it on his website:
http://www.tednugent.com/burnlounge_info.shtml
It's new, and it has a LOT of competition... but give it time, and the artists will soon be pushing Burnlounge harder than the rest... because that's where they can make the most money, and money talks.
Oh... and you mentioned videos... I can't say anything for sure about Petra videos (as more than likely the same or similar legalities to getting a CITAS DVD would apply to getting it downloadable online), but soon TV shows (Survivor, 24, American Idol), sports games (NFL, MLB), movies, and ring tones will all be available for download from Burnlounge. This thing is bottom floor.
Okay, commercial over. But call in the next ten minutes and I'll include my free 'Abs of Gelatin' workout video...
