Buy Now: The Shift from Free to Paid - Selling Music Online
Who'd have thought people would tire of getting music for free? Whether it's the legal threat or the desire for quality control, from downloading individual tracks, playlists and albums to monetized P2P, a world of options has opened up online and been embraced by music fans - highlighted by Apple's iTunes Music Store, which has sold scores of millions of songs at 99¢ per and recently opened up in Canada. But even Apple's Steve Jobs says there's ultimately no profit in online music sales, that it's a loss leader to help sell iPods. Still P2P technology is not going away, and big brands like Future Shop, Amazon.com and Microsoft are entering the game regardless. What's in it for them, and where will all this leave the music consumer when it shakes down? Our panel of experts will suss out the future of the 99¢ song.
Record/Retail (Executive) |
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