How to do Digital Download RIGHT

Apple Computer is reporting that the iTunes Music Store was open in Europe it sold 800,000 songs. The press release is here. As music companies continually try to add more and more restrictive copy protection to their CDs, to combat the free file traders (or should that be "traitors"? ), it is amazing that they refuse to see that internet sales of songs are working when they are done right. Offer the customer a decent selection, at a decent price, sell by the song, and offer a sense of community. Then the customer will beat a path to your door.



Problem is, the whole music industry is currently based on the idea of one good song selling many albums. From records to tapes to CDs, most of the business is a gamble where they throw out as many artists as possible (quality optional) and pray that the fees they can extract from the sales of one hit will pay for everything else. This is a lot harder when a one-song-wonder comes out and folks pay $0.99 for a song, instead of $16.99+ for an entire album. The music industry knows this, but does not want to change. The movie industry gets this, which is why when DVDs came out they changed their business model. Now we see a movie in the theater for the full effect, then buy it for ourselves for the special features. New business model, new profits. Everyone wins.



Then again, maybe I just want you to support Apple so my investment in their stock will keep going up!