wired article: http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,724 ... wn_index_3

Some decent ideas here. I'm not sure any digital selling method is going to stick without different quality levels for each product: having high-mid-low at LAME's -V0, -V2, and -V5 respectively, for example.

i just hope they're right and DRM dies and an emusic-like price and subscription level comes out of this.

Yeah, it's gotta move to subscription-based service. You can't really kill sharing, but I think people would give up piracy if there was a no-brainer, reasonably priced all-you-can-eat option. Why would you scrounge around when you access to everything?

Also, I know next to nothing about the nuts and bolts of the music industry, so maybe those in the loop could help out. Technically, couldn't the unions like ASCAP go into business as a music provider on a subscription basis? They get paid and dole out funds to artists based on radio play, right? Could they morph into big super-labels?

There's a lot of resistance in the industry not only to all things digital, but in particular the subscription based model. i know indy labels that won't put their catalogue on emusic because the royalty rate is so low per track; if you go directly to iTunes and sell your music there, you get make about 60cents a track. eMusic pays way less, as do other subscription services.... i'm sure that this is what keeps a lot of artists and labels out of these types of services.

i wont ever buy any lossy format unless its dirt cheap. if its lossless, then maybe we'll talk.

My understanding is that ASCAP is a publishing/performing rights society, therefore does not own the masters and so cannot sell them.

I think it's in indies' best interest at this point to allow their music to be digitally vended anywhere it can be, and reap those benefits, however smaller they may be than via iTunes.

I can say this for sure - I subscribe to Emusic, and almost everyone I've downloaded on Emusic I've also bought CDs from. They've benefited greatly simply by being on Emusic because I got to hear them there and then downloaded out of curiosity. I've never bought a thing off of Itunes and have no plans to.

i won't purchase music from itunes cause DRM can suck my salty balls. however, my friends who run labels that deny eMusic doubt the link between folks DL'ing their stuff their and later purchasing physical CD's. If it was me running the place, I'd have my stuff on eMusic, but it's not me.

If you you're interested in a DRM-free music store that sells in multiple formats (including lossless or physical CD), and even lets you choose how much you pay for the music, check out http://magnatune.com/

They're selection isn't impressive, but you can stream all the music in the store (full-length songs, good quality) for free.

People seem to forget that there's a world outside of that Blue colored part that's named the USA. I live in a place, for instance that has no viable outlet for legal music. There are still lots of people who would and do buy music but there's no place to purchase this music legally. The alternative is bootlegs. Obviously, the new Sufjan is not readily available on the street in Belize City. Fast Forward: yeah, all of you guys who can walk in to any store in your area and buy a record are really the minority. If Shakira could actually take home the dime she gets from every recording ( in much of her target market...latin america.ahem) ....billions more than she's collecting!
bottom line:
There's a global market, and lots of times, the movies and music leaked on the net come from places that that movie/record isn't even available, so:
How can you (heretofore known as the "Industry") expect for music not to pirated if you don't make it globally available? When it gets stolen, how can you be upset that it is being distributed where you do not distribute it yourself?
Since my waiter can't BUY shakira's new disc legitimately anywhere in Belize and in few places in Mexico, (but still sees the video 12 times a day on HTV) ummmmm....should he go without it, even though it is readily available on the net and in front of the grocery? Work on globalizing( i.e. internet ) distribution in a way that suits artist, label and consumer.............
that is all. Don't bitch its getting bled off, and sales are weak, until you provide for outlets to sell your product to all of your market.

beachy wins. NS has a solid point about lossless, and I'd agree a lossless offerings should be the only pricing even close to CDs.