“Downloading” and “legal” aren’t words that often go hand in hand on college campuses, but a Herndon-based company is attempting to making the practice of legitimately providing digital music and video to students more pervasive.
Ruckus Network Inc. has provided a legal music downloading service for college campuses for the past four years, though their revenue model has changed twice since the beginning, according to Chris Lawson, director of corporate development for Ruckus.
“The premise of the company was that college students are the most engaged consumers of digital media,” Lawson said. “The founders saw a really good opportunity where several stakeholders could benefit – from record labels to universities.”
The company started off charging universities a flat fee for offering the service on campus. It then shifted to a monthly subscription based service. Now, the program is free for university students, and Ruckus makes its money through advertising.
None of the major D.C. universities have signed up as Ruckus partners, though now students can access the service as long as they have a valid .edu address, according to Peter Opere, account executive for the D.C. region. The University of Maryland announced a partnership with Ruckus Thursday, and George Mason University has worked with the company for about a year.
The Ruckus platform has most musical content available for download unless there are general issues with the digital rights of the music, such as the Beatles catalogue, explained Lawson. The students can download the files in a Windows-based format, but only have access to them while they are a student, Lawson said.
“We cover the licensing fees; all the music we have is paid for, so students know that it’s legal,” Lawson said.
Ruckus announced a number of new enhancements to the service Thursday, including a software application for the social networking site Facebook.com and a free video service featuring documentaries, music videos and other content.
