Amid all the attention being paid to file-sharing, pirates and the RIAA, one of the biggest questions is why people need to “own” music. Why is that we need to buy CDs and/or download music (legally and illegally)? Is it the hunters and collectors part of our DNA that makes us want to possess music rather than just listen to it?

If the Internet has done anything for music, it has made it easier and quicker to listen to pretty much anything we want at any time. It’s a musical buffet that stretches for miles and miles so you can eat as music as you want for as long as you want.

Anecdotally, the number of people building their digital music collections using P2P appears to be shrinking – a development highlighted in a recent New York Times article.

It is a stark contrast to not that long ago when downloading free music was something done by many people, who never thought about the legal consequences. Even when the RIAA went on the warpath by suing people, it had little impact on how people behaved.

This trend, however, seems to be changing, and it strikes me as having a lot to do with availability. Rather than having to “own” a song or CD, a growing number of people are content to simply access what they want when they want using services such as Pandora, Songza, MySpace and Spotify.

Many of these services are free, allowing people to get a musical fix without having to dig in their pockets. Of course, if they like what they hear, there are lots of options – iTunes, etc. – to quickly make a digital purchase.

Stepping back from the fray, the apparent decline of music acquisition using P2P is stunning given it was so prolific anot that long ago. This isn’t to suggest the music industry will thrive again because the business models have clearly changed, and will continue to evolve.

That said, it is impressive to see how Spotify, a Swedish music streaming start-up that has taken Europe by storm, has become one of the hottest startups.

Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek hit the hammer on the nail when he told the NYT that:

“Piracy is essentially the consumer’s wish to have everything on demand. It’s not like people want to necessarily have it for free,” adding that piracy has thrived because due to the lack of services “that allowed people to discover new music and easily share music with friends.”

Are you still downloading music using P2P? If so, why?

What has turned me into a music consumer again is Rich Terfry (aka Buck 65), who hosts the afternoon drive show on CBC Radio 2. As a musician with a deep and wonderful knowledge of artists and a variety of musical genre, Terfry puts on a show with excellent music, featuring artists that otherwise wouldn’t be exposed on the national stage.

It may be that Terfry’s musical taste match my own or that he’s simply highlighting great music but I’ve found myself over the past few weeks listening to a song, and then flipping over to iTunes to buy it. I haven’t purchased a huge amount of music but the fact I’m buying music again is significant given I’ve been a non-consumer recently.

The question is why Terfry’s show has inspired the consumer in me when there are services around like Pandora and Jango. I guess it comes down to being able to trust/believe the recommendations you’re given.

Given Terfry’s background, I have faith in his selections whereas Jango is using some kind of algorithm to generate playlists. It’s not that Jango’s technology isn’t great but there’s something to be said for personal recommendations.

More: Speaking of iTunes, the New York Times reports that Apple will remove anti-copying restrictions on all songs within iTunes. That’s a huge move given iTunes has been a walled garden with hard-core DRM technology. Apple also said it will let music labels set a range of prices for songs, which means the 99 cents/song standard will disappear.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iTunes, rich terfry

But before you think the Recording Industry Association of America has surrendered, think again. Rather than battling against evil music downloaders by itself, the RIAA wants to bring ISPs into the fray by working on agreements that will notify customers when they’re sharing music that shouldn’t be shared.

According to the Wall St. Journal, the ISP will “either forward the note to customers, or alert customers that they appear to be uploading music illegally, and ask them to stop. If the customers continue the file-sharing, they will get one or two more emails, perhaps accompanied by slower service from the provider. Finally, the ISP may cut off their access altogether.”

To be honest, it’s a brilliant approach.

After all, why do all the dirty work by yourself when you can build an army to fight the good fight. By taking this approach, the RIAA moves away from being the Evil Empire, while getting some help to achieve the same end goal.

Of course, it also means that ISPs will be taking a bigger role in monitoring/policing every piece of digital traffic that flows over your connection. If you thought ISPs are overbearing now, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

More: Mike Masnick, who knows this issue as well as anyone, described the RIAA’s decision as a “small step” in its effort to create more constructive business models. Meanwhile, Life on a Wicked Stage calls out the RIAA for trying something new because the lawsuits didn’t work very well.

Technorati Tags: ISPs, music, riaa

So, I’m really excited about doing a “fireside chat” with David Usher in Montreal this Wednesday at an Infopresse conference. David and I are going to talk about how he’s using technology and the Web to create, market, distribute and sell his music.

I met David during the mesh conference last year where he provided excellent insight from an artist’s perspective about the music industry and the Web. What was really terrific was that David spent a lot of time at mesh, attending sessions, talking with people, and getting even more ideas on how he can use the Web in new and different ways.

You can check out David’s Web site, Facebook and MySpace pages and Twitter profile. And you can listen to and buy his music, including his new CD, Wake Up and Say Goodbye.

Technorati Tags: infopresse, david usher

Usher is fairly unique within the music business because he’s enthusiastically embraced social media, everything from blogging and Twitter to MySpace and Facebook. If anyone could be dubbed Musician 2.0, it’s Usher. You can purchase his music here.

Technorati Tags: david usher, social media group

For anyone who’s a hockey fan, the Hockey Night in Canada theme song that precedes every Saturday night telecast on CBC is an inherent part of our culture and arguably our second national anthem.

Written in 1968 by Delores Claman, it’s an iconic tune that most Canadian could recognize within seconds, and it’s easily one of the most popular ringtone downloads.

So, it’s a bit of a puzzler that the CBC has decided to walk away from “our song” after declining to renew the $20,000/year licensing rights – the day after the sublime Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. It’s probably some bean counter trying to save our national broadcaster a few bucks while forgetting that Hockey Night in Canada is, by far, the CBC’s most lucrative property. That’s saying something given the, um, commercial mediocrity of many CBC shows.

With the theme song in peril, it’s encouraging to see that people are trying to use the Web to save it.

GiveMeaning, which helps people raises money for all kinds of great charitable causes, is now running a campaign to raise $20,000 – the licensing cost for one year. While it would be an impressive accomplishment if $20,000 was raised, the fact this campaign exists gives you everything you need to know about how some people feel about the theme song.

For more, check out the Toronto Star in which writer Chris Zelkowich suggests the CBC’s move stems from a $2.5-million lawsuit that Claman launched against the CBC four years ago that apparently has to do with ringtone royalties. You can download the ringtone here or here.

Technorati Tags: CBC, Hockey Night in Canada

The ability for musicians to connect with an audience through their music and personality is what continues to make live performances the pillar of the music industry. At a time when many consumers want to pay little if anything for music, they will dig into their pockets for a concert – even dig really deep for a big star, which is what Feist will be soon if she isn’t already.

Playing in her hometown (Toronto), Feist was clearly “on” last night as was the audience. Even though there were 2,000 people there, it felt small and comfortable. The non-music highlight was her attempt to divide the audience into singing groups by using bicycles riders vs. non-bicycle riders. When that didn’t work, she moved on to area codes – much to everyone’s delight.

As the music industry scrambles to deal with its digitization, it is difficult not to get the feeling that it’s so obsessed with selling albums/singles that it forgets about live performances. You hear so much about the RIAA suing consumers for downloading music but little about how more bands have realized that if they want to survive and thrive financially and artistically, they need to get out on the road in front of the people.

It may be that music does want to be be free given consumers don’t see much value in it digitally. If that’s the case, the music industry and musicians have no choice but switch gears and make live performances the foundation of their businesses again. It’s a product that consumers will actually purchase.

Who knows, maybe a dividend along the way is that live performances resonate with consumers to the point where they are willing to pay for a CD, a high-quality digital track/CD, or an old-fashioned CD.

In many ways, Feist’s performance last night was a 90-minute commercial for her CD – and a pretty damn good one at that!

More: To listen to some of Feist’s music, check out her MySpace page. For the scoop on how the RIAA catches alleged music pirates, check out this story. To buy Feist’s new album, The Reminder, click here. The Leading Question and Music Alley have come up with five recommendations for the music industry to resuscitate its prospects.

Technorati Tags: Feist, Music

1. Essentially killed Napster rather than leveraging it

2. Launched a nasty legal war against consumers

3. Embraced technology such as DRM that consumers totally dislike

4. Gotten into bed with Apple, only to get pissed off once they realized Steve Jobs was taking over the business

Now, Warner Brothers CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. has decided to take another controversial route: he’s hired industry executive Jim Griffin to lead a lobby charge for a – wait for it – music tax that would applied to ISP bills, and possibly raise $20-billion.

It’s simple; it’s lucrative and, darn shootin’, it’s going to save the music industry from dire straits (as opposed to Mark Knopfler’s Dire Straits). At least, it will be all these things in theory.

But as Mike Arrington enthusiastically rants about, it’s also “crazy” and “dangerously stupid”. It’s a move that smacks of desperation because the music industry has blown the last decade by trying to hang on to a business model that is antiquated and ill-equipped for new digital era in which we work, live and play.

For whatever reason, the music industry still believes consumers should pay for music even though consumers have been telling them for years, they’re only willing to pay a little bit or nothing at all. Look at how P2P services are still thriving, and how Russia’s AllofMP3.com was doing really well by selling albums for about $3 as opposed to $20.

So where is the money in music if consumers don’t want to pay for it? How about live performances – a neat concept dating back several centuries in which people pay for the privilege of becoming to see a musician(s). The amazing thing amid the glut of free music, consumers are happy to pay a premium price to see major performers. Hell, they’re paying $250 a pop to see The Police.

There’s also merchandise sales, access to special Webcasts, special boxed sets (Trent Reznor did pretty well recent by selling 2,500 copies of a $300 “ultimate-deluxe edition” while offering free downloads of nine songs from Ghosts I-IV), and other things that will require some creativity and risks.

In other words, there is life beyond selling CDs or digital tracks.

My friend, Mathew Ingram, makes a great point that if the music industry manages to somehow push through a music tax, how long would it be before the movie and television industries starting to look at a tax. And what about newspapers, magazines and photographers?

At the end of the day, I’m not at all surprised the music industry is exploring a tax. They missed the digital boat as it sailed away over the horizon. Sadly, they’re trying to force it to come back but using a tax but this approach is stupid, outdated and provides more evidence the music industry just don’t get it.

In the midst of a digital revolution (evolution?), it is interesting to see artists still intent on offering consumers the option to buy CDs, which are quickly becoming as antiquated as cassettes tapes (remember them, those little plastic things that – unlike CDs – took a beating and kept on ticking?).

For all the attention that Nine Inch Nail is getting for offering a free download of nine songs from its Ghosts I-IV collection and a $5 download for all 36 songs from the album, it’s still trying to sell packages that includes CDs, including a $75 “Deluxe Edition” and a $300 “Ultra-Deluxe Edition”. Radiohead did the same thing earlier this year amid its successful pay-what-you-can marketing bonanza by offering an $80 special disc box that includes two CDs and two vinyl records.

If CDs are on life-support, why do artists continue to sell them? I mean, they’re just so 1990, right? Truth be told, there’s still lots of demand – at least for now – amid the ubiquity of iPods and the continued enthusiastic usage of P2P services. As long as consumers insist on buying these antiques, the labels and artists are going to serve them, including “premium” packages for the consumers will be pay more for scarcity.

There is at least one artist willing to give up the CD, and embrace digital. Daniel Lanois’ new album, Here is What Is, is only available in digital format on redfloorecords.com. Lanois’ jump into digital is so complete he’s offering the album in two formats – .mp3 and .wav (Lanois, a renown music producer for the likes of U2 and Bob Dylan, thinks that .wav offers a richer sound). The Toronto Star had a story on Langlois last weekend.

More: CNet has an extensive story on the music industry yesterday that looks at everything from P2P and DRM to social networks and the future of music labels. As well, the New York Times has a story looking at NIN’s “innovative Web pricing plan”.

Technorati Tags: Daniel Langlois, Music, Nine Inch Nails