Money to Burn?
By Reed Tucker, FORTUNE

(FORTUNE Magazine) - Music snobs -- those ridiculously knowledgeable record aficionados who have stacks of European-import CDs and can recite every Dylan B-side -- may be no fun to talk to at parties, but now they can at least monetize their exquisite taste.

A handful of new sites like BurnLounge, Weedshare, and Peer Impact put music moguldom in reach, letting anyone legally sell songs and albums online.

"The whole thing is based on the corner record store," says BurnLounge president and COO Ryan Dadd, 29. "I used to walk in, and the guy at the counter would have five records he thought I'd like."

At BurnLounge, for $30 to $310 a year, music fans (10,000 have put up a shingle so far) can stock their shops with tunes from a library of more than a million tracks. (All major record labels are represented.) Store owners earn free music credits or keep five cents of the 99-cent song price. In an Amway-ish turn, some owners can even take a cut from anyone they persuade to open a store.

Best of all? Finally those music snobs will have something else to talk about at parties. Top of page

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.

Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.
Manage alerts | What is this?

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.