GnuMusiq/payment

The current payment model is basically pretty simple: you pay a pre-set price, and you get a copy of a musical work. which you are then free to play anywhere you want, but with certain restrictions which (in practice) boil down to:

• if you're playing it at a formal event (e.g. a wedding)
• if the music helps you to make money (e.g. ambient music in a restaurant or retail store)
• you can't make copies for anyone else, or broadcast it

This model is both flawed and largely incompatible with the most popular distribution technologies (i.e. copying files over the internet).

To start with, it makes the false presumption that freely-copied music represents a lost sale (because the recipient can now enjoy the music without paying for it). There is considerable evidence that this is actually not true, and that copying acts more as a form of advertisement -- people often will pay money for an official/legal copy of a work they enjoy. This will be especially true if the system makes it easier to do so.

Secondly, there are other ways of creating revenue streams:

• merchandise sales (non-musical merch as well as special editions of musical releases, special interviews, etc.)
• pay-what-you-like downloading (has reportedly worked well for a number of bands, including Nine Inch Nails, as well as for game software)
• recurring voluntary contributions (to the site and/or to a particular artist), with some kind of incentive scheme:
  • eliminate advertisements
  • downloading privileges (e.g. direct downloads instead of torrents; FLAC as well as MP3)
  • artist-personalized merchandise
  • invitations to live chat sessions with artists
  • early notification of releases
  • higher shipping priority, or faster shipping at no extra charge, for physical merch
  • avatar emblem showing that the user is a supporter
  • access to additional web features, e.g. more avatars
• sponsorship of individual artists:
  • sponsors could be listed on physically-printed copies of artists' CDs, DVDs, or other completed projects
  • sponsors could receive a share of sales of each project they sponsor

Some experimentation will be needed in order to determine the best mix of techniques.