Rocker Peter Gabriel really believes in We7. After signing on to the project as a founding investor, Gabriel has provided money for a Series A round of funding for music download service. Spark Ventures and Eden Ventures have also joined in on this round, bringing the total amount for the Series A to $6 million.
Last year We7 launched its ad-supported model for music downloads, which was experimental in some regards, considering the environment for the music industry and battles with online distribution models. Landing a promotional deal for Michael Moore's "Sicko" and growing to about 100,000 users, reaching over 1 million downloads, We7 seems to have had a pretty good year for 2007.
[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]
The last time we mentioned We7 was for the promo deal the company had signed with Michael Moore, and that was an opportunity for me to note the shift in the online music industry, given the pressure for Apple to further innovate on its own model, which led the company to take a very serious look at ads that display with content regardless on Internet connection.
Does this still seem like a viable option, and will that be a primary focus for We7, now that it's received additional funding?