01/01/08: Companies such as Apple have made billions...

based on people ripping their CDs to their computers - I seriously doubt the RIAA would be dumb enough to jepordize that by going after people who did no file sharing but copied their own CDs. Question is, what exactly will the new business model look like in regards to music? People want music that's free (or cheap), that has good audio quality (relatively speaking), and that doesn't have DRM. Companies want as much control and to make as much money as possible. Artists are all over the map (the thing Radiohead did was ballsy, but I have yet to find a straight answer about weather or not they made any money from it - plus, they discontinued it and gave their album a physical CD release). Ultimately, there's gonna be some sort of compromise - file sharing will continue (though there might be less of it), new business models will arise that will allow artists to make a reasonable amount of money off sales, and there will probably be new companies which find new ways to promote artists (let's be honest, unless you know how to look it's very difficult to find new music online due to the sheer amount of music there is).

Post a response to this discussion thread