i think there definately is a future for labels offering their catalogue
through downloadable mp3's [or whatever other format].
right now it's still in it's early stages,and the fact that most of the
payment done on the internet are still done by creditcard doesn't help. how
much does it actually cost if you download one song off warp? 99p plus
creditcard costs...
the future of offering music through the internet for download will cause
some problems though, i think.
first because i doubt that offering your music only through your label, or
your own website will work. the amount of time people will have to spend
just surfing the net in search of new releases will be too much. that, and
the relative inabillity for new artists to be discovered, will result in
musicstores/distributors on the internet, like iTunes, but more in the
traditional recordstore format.
people will check one or more 'recordstores' in search of new releases,
rather then check the websites of 20 to 50 recordlabels, just to find some
music.
that way. there's even room for several online recordstores, each catering
to their own public. i could imagine both submerge and rushhour having
online recordstores, eventhough RH stocks most of submerge's material and
vice versa.
it will create problems aswell though.
recordstores will have to be able to set a certain price, without making
deals with other recordstores, to comply with (eu) competition law.
you'll have to have some sort of sign of approval of the original owner of
the copyright protected work, as otherwise anyone could buy mp3's from an
original seller, and then re-sell it through their own site for just under
the price of the original seller. one mp3 can afterall be copied unlimited
times.
jurren
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