“The absolute transformation of everything we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. I see absolutely no point in pretending that it’s not going to happen. I’m fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing. Music, itself, is going to become like running water or electricity…” - David Bowie, 2002

Well, Dave, we’re getting there…

Apple is exploring the subscription, “All You Can Eat” model. We’ve got XM-To-Go and Yahoo! Unlimited. Hell, even subscription services like Rhapsody and Napster are doing well.

I think we’ll find that this new Music 2.0 model will not only serve the consumer well, but bring in much more revenue to these services.

Here’s the BUT:

How is the money going to be split up? Unfortunately, copyright and other kinds of IP law haven’t caught up to the expanding music business model. Even though the standard internet royalties have just been raised for artists, I still think we’re going to have to back to the drawing board, once this way of selling music gains ubiquity.

The emergence of new (and CHANGING existing) revenue streams provide new challenges to management staff, who must now audit a very different kind of animal.

Don’t ever think that Apple won’t someday discover “creative accounting”.

How this is going to work out for the artist is yet to be determined. I do worry.

Another BUT:

The proliferation of the indie artist will place different kinds of demands on sellers and distributors.
Let’s hope that one of those will be REPORTING.

Show us the money - yeah, and the data too.

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