2006 Summer NAMM: Dream Musician announced the launch of their new online music store, which is designed to provide musicians with the experience of playing in their favorite bands.

At DreamMusician.com, you can download songs containing the accompaniment of every artist in favorite bands, except your preferred instrument, letting you stand-in for the likes of Rick James, Elton John, Marvin Gaye, and others. Dream Musician provides songs that isolate the musician’s instrument of choice; excluding the accompaniment of all other instruments in the song. It’s like music-minus-one tapes, except that you can play along with the original session tracks.

Dream Musician has licensed an library of song titles ranging across several genres of music. The songs are downloadable in Windows Media format. We talked with reps from Dream Musician at the Summer NAMM show, and were impressed with their concept, and their pricing is reasonable. The biggest limitation with the site currently is the range of tracks available. Because they are using the original recordings, they are at the label’s mercy when it comes to getting new content.

“Dream Musician is just that… a musician’s dream come true”, said Gordon Johnson, vice president and COO of Dream Musician. “Until the creation of Dream Musician, musicians could only double their part over the original recording. Now, musicians can add their own nuances and creativity to the original recordings giving them something they have longed for – the ability to not jut play with the band, but to play in the band.”

“There’s a psychology involved with playing music”, according to Ken Katz, president of Music Arts Enterprise. “It’s a bold move to play with a band or in front of people. With Dream Musician there’s no human consequence for being wrong. No one is going to judge you behind closed doors. I think this technology will not only motivate artists to perform in public but will encourage many musicians to join a band.”

Dream Musician, Inc. provides its music through secure digital downloads priced at $2.00 per individual title. All Dream Musician products and services use digital rights management technology.

More information is available at the Dream Musician site.