eFolk Music is a download site that may not be as familiar as some of the big guns in the market, but with a focus on folk and acoustic music, it may be one that readers of Bluegrass Today will find to be of interest. eFolk is organized as a non-profit entity and states as part of their mission a determination to ensure that artists receive a fair royalty from the sale of downloaded audio files.
From their site:
OK, we’re not as slick as iTunes, but we do have a working system for purchasing and downloading from our collection of full-length stereo unrestricted MP3 tracks- we’ve been selling 98 cent MP3s since 1999, all legal- and we pay artists for every sale.
They offer manufactured CDs for sale, and have downloads available either on a pay-per-purchase or a membership basis. The bulk of their offerings are more folk than bluegrass in nature, but they do list a good number of bluegrass CDs, and bluegrass MP3s for download.
There is also an Artist Area where independent bands can review the services offered to artists approved to sell their material on the site.
