At the time, Purdham’s company, which offers ad-supported streaming and downloads, didn’t have a single major on board. That was just over six months ago, and how things have moved on.

In early March, We7 unveiled its first major label partner, Sony BMG, to offer free streaming of its music catalog to We7 users in the UK. And just today the company announced a partnership with a second major label: Warner Music UK.

The Warner agreement is two-fold, covering on-demand streaming (ad-supported), supplemented by full paid-for MP3 downloads. “We7 users will be able to listen to full tracks and albums on an unlimited basis at no cost, and also create playlists, share their favourites and embed songs into their personal webspace”, according to the press release. In return for this all this freeness, users will have to listen to short, targeted audio adverts before each streamed track.

Alternatively, for an ad-free experience users can opt to purchase any Warner track outright via We7’s integrated download store, similar to the current arrangement with Sony BMG. Tracks are to be offered in the MP3 format, compatible with virtually any digital music player including iPods. Aside from individual songs, We7 and Warner will also offer “album bundles with additional tracks, videos and interactive booklets.” Warner Music’s content should be available on We7 before the end of October.

It seems that Warner’s deal with We7 is more evidence of that the major label is willing to experiment with new business models. After starting legal action against another ad-supported music service, U.S.-based imeem, in May 2007, Warner Music Group dropped the lawsuit two months later in favor of a “strategic partnership”. More recently, the company announced that it had signed onto Nokia’s forthcoming all-you-can-eat music subscription service, “Comes With Music“.

Disclaimer: We7 was recently a last100 sponsor.

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Related Articles at last100:

• 7digital trumps iTunes to offer DRM-free music from Warner
• What’s next? Madonna in my corn flakes?
• Warner Music sues SeeqPod, testing DCMA “safe harbor”
• Warner Music jumps on-board Nokia’s all-you-can-eat music plan
• Nokia’s all-you-can-eat music service to land in UK first

Now, all you have to do is fire up the Internet and head over to any one of a million or two music sites like iTunes and last.fm to find new artists and “Top 40” lists that mix the familiar with the obscure.

Three such sites — SpiralFrog, We7, and The Filter — are in the news this week and each, in its own way, is working hard to introduce you to new music and entertainment content.

SpiralFrog, the free, ad-supported music download service, today announced a digital distribution agreement with EMI Music.

EMI’s catalog of digital music and videos will be available to consumers for legal downloading from SpiralFrog in North America. EMI artists are certainly recognizable — from The Beach Boys and Miles Davis to Norah Jones and Coldplay — but while your listening to old favorites it’s impossible not to stumble on indie artists and breakout bands while using the site.

We7, the UK-based free, ad-supported online music service, announced at the end of April it had landed deals with three leading indie labels to go along with its first major label partner, Sony BMG, unveiled in early March.

Since 500,000 tracks went live from Sony BMG, We7’s charts have shown a tenfold increase in traffic, with 322,059 ad-funded streams in the past five weeks.

A quick glance at We7’s streaming charts show a tantalizing array of new artists like Leona Lewis, established bands or singers like Foo Fighters and Britney Spears, old favorites like Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and complete unknowns (to most of us) like Klavar and Joy Walshe. No way Casey Kasem’s charts were this varied or interesting.

Finally, the Peter Gabriel-backed The Filter officially launched (see ReadWriteWeb coverage) this week. The Filter is a personalized content filtering system that not only finds music but movies, TV, and Internet video customized to your personal tastes.

While The Filter’s reincarnation is still in its infancy — the site is buggy and has not made it to the top of our go-to list just yet — you can see the promise of such a service.

And therein lies the challenge for sites such as SpiralFrog, We7, and The Filter: rising above the noise to compete with the other million or two sites like them. And quality content, interpreted and arranged in Top 40-like charts, is one way to do it.

Where else will you find Buzzhead Republic and Barry Manilow on the same chart?

Disclaimer: We7 is currently a last100 sponsor

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Related Articles at last100:

• Ad-supported music download service SpiralFrog enters the dead pool
• Review: SpiralFrog’s ad-supported music download service
• SpiralFrog loses $3 million in three months
• 10 sites for free legal music
• Music industry: five alternative business models

We7

In early March, the company also unveiled its first major label partner, Sony BMG, who by the end of this month will begin offering free streaming of its music catalog to We7 users in the UK. Sony BMG’s roster includes international artists Bruce Springsteen, Westlife and Foo Fighters, along with British talent such as Mark Ronson, Kasabian and Leona Lewis. In additional to ad-supported streaming, users will be given the option to purchase and download tracks outright, either through We7 or on iTunes.

The partnership with IRIS gives We7 access to music from independent labels such as Scion, Chemikal Underground, Subliminal and Big Dada, while the deal with InGrooves secures tracks from ESL Music, VP Records, Chocolate Industries and A2M Distribution, and BFM Digital distributes labels such as Cristal Records, Disk Eyes and Ana Records.

Disclaimer: We7 is currently a last100 sponsor.

Also see: Q&A: We7 CEO Steve Purdham and Is free legal music service Qtrax too good to be true?

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Related Articles at last100:

• We7 signs Warner Music for ad-supported streaming and MP3 downloads
• Weekly wrapup, 21-25 April 2008
• In the news: SpiralFrog, We7, The Filter, helping us discover new artists and content
• Sony BMG joins Nokia’s all-you-can-eat music service
• Weekly wrapup, 11-15 August 2008