The major music labels agreed to support a new music service, Ruckus Network, that will offer free music downloads, with some substantial restrictions, to any college student.

Though it offers free music, the service has struggled to generate interest with students and to find a way to pay for the service because the free songs are delivered with Microsoft’s PlaysForSure DRM, making tracks incompatible with both iPods and Zunes.

The service, from Ruckus Network, will be supported by advertising on its Web site and in the software used to download and play songs. The four major record labels and several independent labels agreed to license their music to Ruckus at reduced rates on the theory that college students would rather steal songs than pay the $10 to $15 a month that such services normally charge.

Phil Leigh, president of Inside Digital Media, a research firm, said that the move also represented a way for labels to experiment with advertising-supported music, a model that he said might be better for the labels than radio, because they could share in the advertising revenue. Music publishers, which represent the composers, are paid by radio stations, but the labels, which represent performing artists, are not.

Ruckus had originally hoped universities would pay a fee to offer free downloads to their students, thereby reducing the legal risks and some of the network expense associated with the use of illegal file-sharing networks. Only 20 universities agreed.

Last year, however, Ruckus decided to switch to a free, advertising-supported approach, although it still required universities to agree and to install a server on their campus networks.

via New York Times