IP Democracy: Music Business Models Are All Over the Map

Ever since Napster single-handledly and almost overnight smashed the music industry's decades-old business model, the profusion of innovative new ways to listen to music just keeps accelerating. A spate of developments point to the growing number of online options available for listening to and downloading all kinds of music.

First, Universal Music announced today it has become the fourth major record label to join imeem's music-based social networking service. imeem allows users to create and share audio (and video and photo) lists through content uploads, an alternative to true P2P that is obviously striking a happy medium for record companies. imeem givens them a cut of the ad revenue from the site.

imeem faces stiff competition from not only Apple's dominant iTunes, which charges $.99/song, but now also Amazon's MP3 store, which launched in September and is gaining steam with its $89/song pricing and DRM-free tracks.

Subscription music services offer a third choice. RealNetwork's Rhapsody service is available for $10 to $15 per month, while Microsoft's Zune, which has gained suprising kudos lately, comes with a $15/month subscription option.

Universal Music is also participating in Nokia's efforts to challenge iTunes and change the music model on the mobile front. Hoping to take the wind out of the iPhone's sails, Nokia will offer a year's worth of free, unlimited downloads of Universal's vast song library to buyers of its high-end phones.

imeem faces stiff competition from other social networking sites when it comes to music. MySpace is mounting an online music video channel called Earwig TV, a move that follows the social networking giant's decision to offer free small and indie label music downloads on the site and probably precedes a big deal between the News Corp.-owned service and the big record labels to launch a wide-ranging music download service.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on December 10, 2007 9:08 AM to IP Democracy