Well now, I'd have to disagree with some of the comments in here, such as ....

"peer2peer services are essentially dead now"

Tell that to Limewire and WinMX who are still very much alive and I'm sure that a number of the other P2P clients are as well, however most intelligent people these days are downloading discographies from BitTorrent which beats the track by track download model by a wide margin

"DRM. Digital Rights Management helps you be honest, and helps prevent rampant piracy"

Rubbish, DRM assumes that all paying customers are "thieves" and "pirates" and need to be "restricted" in their activities. This is insulting. It has done nothing at all to stem so called "piracy" which is more rampant now than ever. Ask Big Champagne who publish regular statistics. The market for major label DRM music is minute (compared with the rest of the market and the P2P services), mainly because ONLY MUGS buy low quality restricted music for $1 a track.

"Perhaps we'll see a subscription model, such as Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) PlaysForSure initiative, gain more traction in the marketplace, and stir something up"

Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha. I wouldn't hold your breath. The subscription services are doing very badly indeed and PlaysForSure DRM is doing so badly that Microsoft has decided not to support it on "Zune".

Nobody wants to rent their music. people want to own it, and they want it to play on any device. Like CDs only more convenient.

The only service that seems to be gaining traction at the moment is AllOfMP3.com who sell unrestricted music in the format and at the quality of your choice. It is no surprise that they are doing so well since they are selling what their customers want at a very reasonable price. The music industry keeps chanting that they are a pirate web site, but they seem to be unable to prove that this or shut them down despite all the political and economic manoevering and the comedy lawsuits.

5 out of 10 for this article Randall. Perhaps you could have done better if you had put in a bit more research, eh?

Interesting article, but you should have made one additional point on PlaysForSure. Microsoft itself turned its back on its own "standard" when it created the Zune. You can't load any of the PFS tracks you bought on the Zune.

Also, companies like eMusic allow you to purchase music in MP3 format, completely unrestricted, for a monthly fee. Keeping this fee at a fair level, with no restrictions on the music files, is in my view the best way to "help keep you honest".

Yes, I like your response. It demonstrates a greater depth of knowledge on this subject than your article.

I also know people who make occasional purchases from iTunes, however I don't know anyone who spends a lot of money there. It's a very slick piece of software, but I personally don't see it as a viable business model going forward, and I don't believe that the major labels do either, otherwise they would not be looking so hard for alternatives.

As for this :

"As for AllOfMp3.com, blah to that. It's doing well because it's essentially illegal. $2.50 per album? Please. It's not a real business model, and yes, there are some savvy consumers out there, but there are far greater number of consumers out there rocking iTMS."

I'd have to disagree with you on all counts. There is no conclusive proof as yet that they are illegal (No matter how much the music biz wants it to be true). If there was any proof then the powers that be in Russia would have had to shut them down by now.

Their business model is very real. That's why they are now number 2 in the market globally. Yes iTunes has more customers at present, but not a "far greater number" and whilst we are being led to believe that the iTMS growth is flattening out, AllOfMP3 continues to grow at a frightening rate (All the current publicity can only help to accelerate this).

Personally, I'd be happy to buy music from the majors and pay more for it as well if they offered me the same breadth of choice and quality of product and service.

Here is another comment I found interesting :

"I agree with your DRM perspective, but from a business perspective, they see it differently."

The fact that they see it differently is the root of the problem. It's not really about how they see it, is it? That's not how good business is done. It's about how the customers see it and also how the artists see it, and this is where the record companies seem to have lost their way. Whatever happened to rule number one "The customer is always right".

The majors need to understand that they are in danger of becoming obsolete. Modern computers and software are making it easier to record an album and master it at home. Promotion and distribution can be done directly via the internet. Many new bands are starting to realise this. The major record deal where bands are forced to sign over their IPR in exchange for backing is no longer the "must have" it used to be.

Maybe if the majors reviewed their tactics and started to "play nice" and be a bit less greedy they might survive for longer.

finally :

I didn't accuse you of being wrong. I said I disagreed with some of your comments.

I didn't say you hadn't done research. I suggested you might have done more.

I don't think you suck, In fact I'm starting to like you. Try reading what I said again : )

I shall leave it at that on this article, but I will be reading your blog from now on. Happy new year.

Nice debate! My perspective: 1) p2p is alive and well! Something like 40 times more music is pirated than purchased digitally and for very good reason! Digital music comes with format handcuffs, and users cannot do what they want, when they want and where they want with their music.

2) Converting pirates to pilots is possible, only when they are given great reasons to pay; these reasons will include, in addition to format/device/platform independence, a way of finding what is good, filters for content, an entire user experience that is compelling. Allofmp3 and emusic have proven this (altho I do believe that allofmp3 is illegal). People are not thieves by nature.

3) the solutions will not likely be found by the likes of the big boys like Microsoft, but through the creativity of newer players. DRM in its current expression must go. And artists must be paid for their creative content. The existing models are broken so the question is really more about what will work in the future.