"Today, with all the scared-ness in my soul, all the love in my heart for music, an alternative for digital music sale is online right now, it started about an hour ago," Brooks told a packed room during the press conference.

"Over 7 million singles or albums are available at this point, we're just starting out," he continued. He outlined a couple of key points that differentiate the site from other digital music services. "First, the music is however the artist or the label that owns that artists' work wants it sold. Second, it doesn't go on the 70-30 split that digital music is on right now, it's on a much more flexible scale."

Additionally, he said, "You can play it on any device you want the second you get it. So no more territorial stuff." Right now, he admits, the site is "kind of Garth heavy." But he said that what he's trying to do with Ghost Tunes is "to show the rest of the industry that you can do this for any artist."

"It's a beautiful format that's young, flexible, small," he said, beaming as he spoke, like a proud father. "I want it to stay that way. I want to stay small, because I don't want corporate wagging the tail of the dog."

Brooks also addressed, indirectly, the fact that he wasn't satisfied with the way digital music has been handled up to this point. "In my 14 years on the sideline I didn't find an e-commerce site that to me was selling [digital music] the way they should," Brooks said during the press conference. "I wanted a place that just sold entertainment, that took care of the customer, and the price was flexible so the customer could get a break. And you could sell any way the artist wanted it sold."

"I begged and pleaded all the other e-commerce places, we're going to leave the names out," he continued. "That's why we're not with anybody."