The Music Industry is still a major driving force, however, consumer economics follow trends and miniturization is just an evolutionary step all creatures take, not to mention electronic creatures. The Net as a Being is evolving to a state that is beginning to be hard to fathom (and impossible to ever really "understand"...we can at least "appreciate" it I think). This Net and Music synergy is a powerful economic force and also cell phones, iPods and these devices that bridge the gap...they are merging into portable little micro-media workstations [some even have keyboards and monitor outs]. I think since audio is digital, artists, producers, the whole music economy is starting to turn around, and it's for the good in the long run (get rid of plastic, not to mention gasoline for transportation). Digital online content services went gangbusters in 2005, and now the infrastructure that cutting-edge online sharing companies built after Y2K is starting to pay off and they can offer services at lower rates. For ten bucks a month for virtually unlimited music, how can anyone afford not to sign up? Cable and other service providers (Verizon, Sprint, they all do) also provide media services (not just music downloads, but the news and ordering a pizza). People like "one-stop shopping". They also tend to think twice when paying more than a buck a song (even these days, we're not all graced with infinite income and negligible expenses).
These psychological factors are often overlooked when we start examining media motivators...after all, it's a consumer economy over here. Until we get around the archaic paradigms for media delivery, we will continue to lose pace with the innovators who are taking advantage of services media delivery. It's all about annuities....
Wired - 1999
E-Music: How to Pay the Piper
by Jennifer Sullivan Jennifer Sullivan 03:00 AM Sep, 20, 1999 EDT
source: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,21832,00.html
Digital music could be the tonic that brings e-commerce micropayment schemes back from the dead. A series of partnerships with music sites are the latest vital signs.
For years, online businesses have dreamed of the day when they could charge 5 cents for an old New Yorker column, or 50 cents for a Beatles tune. But smartcards and e-wallets that facilitate micropayments systems have failed to take off in the United States, mostly because there hasn't been much online content worth the price.
"It's a chicken and the egg problem," said Robert Sterling, analyst with Jupiter Communications. "There's nothing to buy, so there's no reason to adopt the systems."
But as Web sites start to sell music online, they need an easy way to charge customers a dollar or less per track. E-commerce provider IPin plans to partner with ISPs to make online shopping as easy as you please.