I actually bought music this week for the first time in years. I was listening to this[1] in someone's office, liked it, and suddenly realized that I could buy a DRM-free version from either Amazon or iTunes. I checked prices on both, but the iTunes interface was a little easier to deal with, so I bought it. I wouldn't have considered buying it if it had DRM - I've got three Macs, three Ubuntu boxes, and a Sun in the house here and DRM music is too much trouble. It worked so well and was so easy that the next time I want some particular music - I'll probably buy it!
Information wants to be free, and music is no different.
Freely available music with a mechanism for direct fan support (disc boxes, art, shows, straight up money) is the future. Aggregation of free content with intelligent and/or community based recommendations are also important for discovery of new interests.
I actually bought music this week for the first time in years. I was listening to this[1] in someone's office, liked it, and suddenly realized that I could buy a DRM-free version from either Amazon or iTunes. I checked prices on both, but the iTunes interface was a little easier to deal with, so I bought it. I wouldn't have considered buying it if it had DRM - I've got three Macs, three Ubuntu boxes, and a Sun in the house here and DRM music is too much trouble. It worked so well and was so easy that the next time I want some particular music - I'll probably buy it!
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chips_from_the_Chocolate_Fireba...