The DRM, the secondary liability and the bots have been with us for years. They have failed, and following their siren call has left the music industry dying and unloved.

We agree the concept of DRM is for the protection of artists, however they are the last to "profit" from it. RIAA and Recording Industry giants are using this to fill their pockets.

We encourage all artist to start thinking like a Sports Player an get the "up front" signing bonus. Re-focus on "Live" engagements. Getting involved in the business of controlled distribution is waters for a different shark.

How can there have been a "seven-year sales decline" (per the WSJ article) in the music industry when, according to Nielsen SoundScan, overall music sales were [1]up 19% in 2006? Something doesn't compute in this article.

More to the point, though, what needs to change (and is changing) is the compensation and infrastructure needed to "find and filter the art, and record, package, and distribute it." From Pandora to Last.fm to Magnatune to Pitchfork, there is now a plethora of means for unsigned acts to attract a fan base and profit from them -- all of these outside the control and influence of the dinosaurs that direct the RIAA. Optimistically, the potential is for the rise of the middle-class musician, able to support himself through talent, hard work, and creative marketing, and a curtailment of the few superstar acts and industry fatcats who get rich off them at the expense of the vast majority of musicians who can't eek out a living in music.

So have at your DRM-laden "American Idol Greatest Hits" CDs at $18.99 a pop, cartel price-fixing, and Top 40 Radio payola ... just don't force the rest of us to sign on by supporting legislation that rams DRM down all our throats. The rest of us are looking forward to a truly free market that rewards talent.

[1] http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/16383233.htm

John, artists do profit from DRM, and if they do not because of the cut taken by the RIAA, then its still more than they would get from unauthorized use and piracy of their works.

Personally, I'd like to see artists given the option of releasing their works with or without DRM. According to some sources, that is not the case with iTunes.

As far as making a living from live engagements, how would that work for authors? Should there be reading time down at the Mayflower with entrance fees? Or should authors not be encouraged to tap the Internet?

"The key point is that this is not the music companies' crisis -- this is a crisis for everyone. If there is no compensation for artists from creating work, or compensation for others who find and filter the art, and rcord, package, and distribute it, then the music will not be produced.

YOU, personally, will return to an 18th century state in which your total musical experience will consist of hearing your cousin Betsy play a reed flute, except of course for the music graciously sponsored by the modern equivalent of 18th century aristocrats who want to sell advertising to your eyeballs."

hmmm yes, we will really SUFFER--since the 18th century gad very little worthwhile music, only guys like Mozart, Haydn, Bach....

To be really clear, my prediction is that:

Big companies in the music business will have a very hard time, they will never return to anything like the past profitability,

Artist, however will flourish, although there will not be the same knds of superstars. There will be many stars, and thet will have upper middle class incomes, and live comfortably

Music will have much more variety, and will be rcher and more diverse, with more fragmented genres

The professional/managerial classes (lawyers, marketing folks/graphic designers) will become vertically disintegrated, and will not be directly a part of a large firm, but spread out and dispersed. See Allen J. Scott description of vertical disintegration of the aviation electronics industry in Orange County for an example of a similar process which also occurred to a vertically integrated industry. They won't do nearly as well as they did in the past, but will continue to exist...

The public will be much better off, getting more choice for less.

Some regoins tied to music industry will be hurt.