Groove Armada go online in new venture 

Source: ONE News/Ali Mobasser

In a world first music sharing venture, top selling group Groove Armada are releasing their latest offerings online.

The new music sharing initiative Barcardi B-Live Share encourages users to legally share and enjoy music for free, as part of an online community.

Groove Armada is using the new platform to offer four brand new, previously unreleased tracks.

Groove Armada's Andy Cato says sharing music has always taken place, it's the giving away of music that is the problem for artists like himself.

"When you give away music for free it's disposable. When you share it, it's done with love," he says.

Michael Brabant, New Zealand Bacardi brand manager, says the new music-sharing mechanic is the first of its kind globally.

"(The initiative) is the first of its kind, countering traditional thinking that the sharing of music online is something that should be stopped," he says.

He says the new initiative empowers sharing as the future model for content distribution, creating a legal platform where the artists and the publisher are all remunerated.

Music fans can create their own online community through the micro-site, and via widgets that can be integrated into personal social networking environments. The more friends each user invites to participate, the more tracks users can access.

Each user has their own profile page from where they can share that MP3 with their online network of friends.

They can also see how far their sharing is going via a live visual sharing map that constantly updates itself.