FREE (and legal) MUSIC

25,000,000 songs free and legal! (with just a few strings)

Via the Drudge Report, it seems that music industry has realized that it will never be able to defeat P2P sharing, and is now releasing it’s own free music download service. Qtrax it’s called, and the beta version is available for download at midnight EST. Unfortunately, the music will be embedded with Digital Rights Management software, preventing it from playing on your ipod. Supposedly this will allow the Qtrax player to upload to the record companies what songs you’ve played, how frequently, and when.

FINALLY: a great idea. “Give away the music and sell the show” will be the new mantra for the music industry because that’s the only way they’ll be able to make any money. Intellectual property rights are quickly becoming a thing of the past. If you want people to use your software/watch your movie/listen to your music, you have to assume that they will want to change it, play it on their ipod, and give it away to their friends for free. The proliferation of technology has made this easier and as soon as the next version of DRM comes out a new batch of programmers will develop a decoder. The one thing the internet can’t effectively emulate, can’t provide a viable substitute for, is a live show. So that has to be the future of the industry. I predict a few things:

• More interactive concerts. I’m not sure how this will be accomplished, but I feel like the distance between the artists and the fans will quickly shrink.
• More concert venues: There will be more places locally to see concerts. The demand for venues will increase as most bands shift their focus away from writing and towards concerts.
• Less Music: Unfortunately, as bands shift their focus away from recording new music, less music will be recorded. Bands that don’t put on a good show will be unprofitable.

Update: as of now, still can’t download Qtrax…hopefully soon.