Sunday, May 08, 2005

Apple's iTunes Music Store—which has sold more than 350 million downloads at a buck a pop—has been wildly successful. But because digitized music can be distributed, paid for and listened to in so many ways, there's room for other business models that could potentially grow the whole industry. Apple CEO Steve Jobs professes to be cautious about this issue—"We're not religious on this, but there's no evidence people want [other business models]," he says—but others have been brainstorming different ways to move legal digital music forward. Now we're finally seeing some of the schemes come to market.

Some of these ideas may flop, but eventually the most ingenious ones will generate more excitement in music and a greater willingness to sample new artists. Best of all, music executives are starting to get this. "There's been a change in attitude," says Adam Klein, EMI's head of strategy. "We've found that the more time consumers spend with digital music, the more they spend on music overall." To those outside the music industry, this observation seems as obvious as mud. But acknowledging the obvious certainly beats denial. As the shrink said to Portnoy, "Now we can begin."