Webceleb Review: Buy Songs and Take a Slice of The Profits

Webceleb has a great business model that financially rewards both artists and music fans. Unfortunately, the user-experience for Webceleb lets it down. Music discovery is slow and purchasing tracks can be disappointing. At the time of writing this article, there were a significant number of songs waiting to be approved. Although these can be listened to via streaming audio, the 'Buy Song' icon next to them gives the impression that they can be immediately downloaded. If Webceleb can improve on these two downsides, it has the potential to be a great indie music resource.

Website Experience: Webceleb's user interface is clean and simple to use. This helps you to dive straight into this digital music service and start using its features. However, it is at times a little too simplistic -- the search facilities for example don't provide advanced filters to enable you to search for specifics like: genre, song name, etc. -- all these are useful for a better music discovery experience.

Content And Music Discovery: Webceleb has a small, but decent library of music that is growing all the time. This content is submitted by independent artists and bands looking for more exposure to increase their fan base. You can start discovering new music in a number of ways. There's the search box near the top of the screen to find a particular artist, or you can manually search through the different genres by clicking on the Discover menu tab at the top of screen. Having tried both methods, its not easy to quickly find the type of music you like. As previously mentioned, the search facilities are limited, and browsing manually is a slow process due to the websites' layout. The choice of genres is also disappointing and certainly needs expanding on if Webceleb wants to compete with other online indie music services.

Music Quality, Formats, and Delivery: The audio quality of the streaming audio is excellent. Download speeds are also very good when purchasing songs -- the music is provided in the MP3 format and is typically of CD quality or higher.

Purchasing Music: Buying music on Webceleb enables you to permanently own the music you like and also take a slice of any future sales too. However, buying songs on Webceleb can be frustrating to say the least. While reviewing the service, a significant number of tracks that were clicked on couldn't be purchased because they were waiting to be approved. This makes for a poor user-experience when there is a 'Buy Song' icon next to a track that can't be purchased immediately. There is an option to pre-order, but no time is given on how long you'll have to wait. It would be much better if Webceleb displayed whether the track is a pre-order or an immediate purchase. When you've found a track that can be downloaded, it's a simple process of typing in your password and clicking the download button. If you haven't got any credit to purchase tracks, you can add funds using your credit card. Webceleb also generously gives you $1 for completing your profile.