A new business model for the music industry

Since my days as the webmaster of Fréquence Laser (for the non-swiss: formerly the biggest music retailer in the country) I have been particularly interested in how the music industry refuses the adapts to changes brought by new technologies. DRM is not the solution. Treating your customers like crooks neither.

Michael Arrington of Techcrunch (my personal blog of the year if you ask) has a post on what he thinks is the future of this industry, and I can only agree with him.

Magnatune’s Answer to the Music Problem

There are two key business model issues to note that make Magnatune different.

The first is that Magnatude allows buyers to download music completely free of DRM and in the format [...] and quality of their choice [...] I think this is the only way a label or artist can charge for music – no DRM and offering a choice of formats and quality.

Albums sell for $5 and up (the buyer decides if he or she wants to pay more). [...]

The second business model difference is [...] they share a flat 50% of gross proceeds (before any costs) from music sales with artists.

In a word? Play fair! And it will take us another decade to get there completely.

I wish I had another free spot at LIFT to hear somebody like John Buckman.