Presidents of the USA release iPhone app with their music in it

Wired has a story up about an interesting tactic The Presidents of the United States have put into action (no, not the Commanders in Chief, the pop punk trio from the '90s). While they already do have their music in the iTunes Music Store, one of the band's members has joined a company that makes iPhone software, and they're also putting all of their tunes into the App Store as well. The app sells for three bucks and allows you to listen to tracks from the four albums of material that the band owns themselves -- though only through a stream, which, according to the reviews, can sound pretty bad at times.

So interesting idea, pretty poor implementation. Still, this might be a good way for even smaller bands to get their music out there and into people's hands -- the only up-front cost on the App Store is the $100 registration fee, and Apple's fine with whatever you put out there. As Wired notes, they get paid their 30% whether you're selling your tunes via an app or through iTunes. Plus, with a dedicated app, you can add in news, throw in interactive extras, and put whatever else you can think of in there.

I doubt this is the last time we'll hear about an artist (or even a corporation) selling an iPhone app with content built-in to promote themselves. The only issue is that anyone releasing "promoware" like this should be required (either by Apple or just by consumers) to offer some actual functionality along with the promotion.
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