Water Music

Pliable at On An Overgrown Path has an interesting post about a new study of the present world-wide development of monthly subscription charge systems that make unlimited amounts of recorded music available to an ever-increasing audience:

The main thrust of Leonhard’s paper is that consumers are now taking charge of their own entertainment, and the borders between performance and copy, and access and ownership have been crossed. He says the music business is rapidly moving towards a flat charge for access, and away from the historic, and clumsy, pay per performance model. A flat charge for access is how utility providers operate, and is where his catchy music-like-water moniker comes from. Leonhard predicts that once distribution is no longer a barrier to entry, the music market will explode. And the traditional record companies will be left for dead as new players control the flow of music-like-water.

Fanciful? Unlikely to happen in our lifetime? Harmless crystal ball gazing? I don’t think so. Music-like-water has already arrived. Just last week mobile (cell) phone operator T-Mobile announced an 18 month deal with Robbie Williams, which will make some of his songs and concert footage available exclusively over the phone network - presumably music will follow.

Read it all.