Serial internet investor and musician Peter Gabriel today took the wraps off We7, a free at the point of use music download service where tracks are paid for by 10-second adverts spliced to their beginning.

The tracks will be MP3-encoded, and unencumbered by DRM, We7 said*. Advertisers will pay We7 between £0.30 and £0.60 per download, and by listening to an ad-supported song a few times the consumer wins rights to access a version without a commercial. The firm is quoted in today’s Times saying “three, four or five” listens will be needed.
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The ads will be demographically-targeted on age, location and gender, but the option will be there for fans to pay for tunes sans-sponsorship from the get-go if they want. The We7 site also has a limited Last.fm-style social recommendation facility.

The rationale? It emerged earlier this year that legal download sales were beginning to flatline, and the record industry continues to examine its busness model in the face of declining global revenues.

The story continues over at The Register.