In New Zealand, Kim Dotcom’s new music service Baboom has officially gone live. So far, it offers just one album—his own, Good Times.

“My idea is that artists should make their music available for free, and fans should only play for it if they really like it,” Dotcom says in a video greeting posted to the site. "So I’m going to lead by example today, and I’m making my album free on Baboom. So you go ahead and listen to it, and only pay if you like it. Prove my idea for the music industry works by making my album the number one.”

Some fans down under—where Good Times was available for purchase for almost a full day on commercial services before Baboom launched—may grumble at the revelation that the work is free over the new service. On Twitter, Dotcom claimed “78,000 plays of Good Times during Baboom’s first hour!!!” According to his Baboom artist home page, Dotcom has 344,096 followers and counting.

In addition to streaming, the album and individual tracks are available for download in MP3, WAV FLAC (lossless compression), and STEM (remixable) formats. For those who do want to buy Good Times, Baboom is offering no purchase option at this point, but the album is on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Band Camp, and other music services. How many Dotcom fans have dipped into their pocket to pay for the album? He hasn’t said so far, but Good Times has yet to appear in the iTunes Top 100.

Once Baboom has its full launch—which Dotcom says will be “late 2014”—subscribers will also be able to install an ad-substitution plug-in to download paid music free. Today, there’s no further information on the ad-substitution plug-in. And even on Dotcom’s artist page, some features such as “Jukebox” are not yet activated.

Dotcom also released a YouTube video of his band playing the Good Times track “Amazing” at the Rhythm & Vines festival in New Zealand on New Year’s Eve (below). It’s a slick, catchy electronic dance number, and like other Good Times tracks, it was co-produced by Black Eyed Peas producer Printz Board. Dotcom describes himself as a perfectionist and a hands-on producer, but his contribution to the live performance could diplomatically be described as minimalist.

As Baboom went live, Dotcom tweeted, "Hello RIAA, this will be your grave." Perhaps Baboom will look close to that later this year with the full launch. For now, it has the less threatening form of a MySpace musician page.

Chris Keall is the technology editor at New Zealand's National Business Review.

UPDATE (Tuesday, 1/21, 3:15pm CT):

Kim Dotocm's day one message for Baboom.com visitors was clear: "Prove my idea for the music industry works by making my album the number one."

Visitors only had pay for his new album—Good Times—if they liked it. At least in New Zealand, fans answered this call.

Dotcom's $NZ9.99 ($US8.20) album has gone to No. 8 on the iTunes chart in his adopted home country, harnessing the strength of a radio campaign and ads on the back of 100 buses. (As of this update, Good Times has yet to crack the iTunes US Top 100 album chart.)

Good Times is still available for streaming or free download from Dotcom's Baboom.com, soft-launched Monday. On Twitter, Dotcom claimed more than half a million people listened to it during its first day of release.