MP3.com Hands Out $1 Million In Playback Program

MP3.com Wednesday announced May compensation figures of its Payback for Playback program, which amounted to a payout of $1,000,000 to digital artists who post music on the site.

As a result of the its success, the program will be extended through July.

The top-earning artist in was 303Infinity. Mikel Fair, the founder of 303Infinity earned $23,786.81 through the program.

"The program serves as the cornerstone of our revolutionary royalty tracking technology," said Michael Robertson, chairman and chief executive officer of MP3.com. "We are dedicated to growing the digital music space by creating a revenue-generating online infrastructure that will drive the new music economy.

"Projecting the band's compensation in May to continue over the course of a year, a digital artist like 303Infinity could generate approximately $275,000 profit annually. That's an incredible figure that validates the commercial viability of an advertising-based revenue model for music," he said.

Employing an advertising-based revenue model similar to network television, the program utilizes a portion of advertising dollars raised on MP3.com to pay content owners for their music.

The program is designed to compensate the more than 74,000 digital artists who post music on MP3.com, based on the popularity of their music. In the month of May, the top ten Payback for Playback earners at MP3.com combined to receive over $135,000.

To join the MP3.com artist community and become eligible for Payback for Playback, an act must make at least one song, in its entirety, available on MP3.com for free streaming or downloading.