| View this article at: http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/03/28/warner.on.flat.music.fee/ |
Friday, Mar 28, 2008 5:00pm
Warner exec proposes flat music fee for ISPs |
Warner Music Group has revealed that it's in the midst of developing an organization that it hopes will turn around mounting losses at traditional music labels. Headed by former Geffen label head Jim Griffin, the unnamed effort would take the concepts behind Universal's Total Music to a more label-independent format. Rather than send music to one label, customers of the service would see a fee for unlimited music downloads bundled into the cost of the Internet service that would be used for a general money pool; the money would then be distributed across all labels to compensate both themselves and the artists as they see fit.Griffin noted that nothing was set in place as to pricing or other details, but explained that even a small fee would create more money than today's segmented industry. At $5 per month, the plan would offer about $20 billion in total revenue versus the $10 billion of the existing market. Poorer countries could charge far less but still make up for the difference through sheer population numbers, while at a certain point users might also have the option of completely free music in exchange for ads. |