iHoopla is selling music downloads on eBay as part of the online auction site's pilot program announced in July. iHoopla approached eBay when it read about the program and is now actively selling music downloads on the site. eBay's test program is limited to pre-approved sellers of downloadable digital music files and will run for 180 days. Approved sellers must be rights-owners or have contractual permission from rights-owners to resell the listed media, and buyers cannot re-list or resell the media on eBay, according to eBay's original announcement.

iHoopla is an artist-direct digital-download music store for independent artists. iHoopla launched in February 2004 and claims to be the only online music store that offers independent musicians and labels Internet distribution with the protection of Digital Rights Management.

Independent artists can sell their music on iHoopla for as little as $4.99/track per year, which includes encoding, encrypting and enabling the track to be purchased and downloaded. Also included are a basic Web page to feature the artist and their music; inclusion in the iHoopla catalog and store; and the ability to place the DRM protected files on the artist's own Web site.

Virtually anyone can sign up with iHoopla, and it's likely the company hopes to attract artists as well as customers with its eBay presence. Currently iHoopla is offering multiple-quantity fixed-price listings in its eBay Store and has no auctions listed. Buyers are not allowed to resell the music.

iHoopla shares revenue with artists on a 50-50 split, gross. So for every 99-cent track downloaded on eBay, the artist receives 49 and a half cents. iHoopla pays payment processing and other fees. The company does not currently accept PayPal, but said it is looking into it. iHoopla declined to discuss what it will pay in eBay fees ("As for specific terms of business agreements, we do not discuss them publicly"). In July, eBay spokesperson Hani Durzy declined to discuss the fees eBay was charging participants in the pilot program.

David De Valk, who founded iHoopla with John Peterson, said, "By using Digital Rights Management and Internet technologies, the amount of capital and time required to distribute music is greatly reduced. Benefits flow to both artists and their fans. Artists retain creative freedom & increased royalties, while music listeners benefit because there will be a larger selection of artists to choose from."

When asked if iHoopla was like other music download stores, De Valk said iHoopla is unique in that "we're all about helping the artist to retain the copyright and keep what they've created, and retain a solid position. We are all about the artist and enabling the artist." There is no exclusive contract, and artists are free to sell on other sites.

To kick off its new eBay store, iHoopla announced a special promotion for the month of September to give artists a one-year Silver service-level agreement for a single payment of $99, which includes a listing on the iHoopla store on eBay. The Silver plan usually costs $19.95 per month.

iHoopla uses eBay Seller Pro and the eBay API to list items on the site. It sells under the User ID ihoopla and as of Tuesday evening had received 32 positive feedback points from 11 unique customers.

http://stores.ebay.com/ihoopla