I have kept quiet for much of this discussion as I tried to dissect the various commentary from the blogosphere and come up with my own take on the situation. Well here it is...
This concept (while utopian) is a good one if you can excuse the fact that the very same labels that sued Shawn Fanning's (Napster) tail off 6 years ago because of the evil nature of P2P are now endorsing it and wanting to take P2P to market. This move is a day late and a dollar short. I do not understand why our industry takes so long to jump onto popular tech initiatives. I mean... I would have been selling digital music on Myspace 3 years ago if I had been in a place to make such a decision. This whole concept (rooted in the Future of Music) of music being all around us... in our lives in every possible way is a good one. The problem is how do we legitimize it? I know that is what Warner and the isp's are trying to do, but I fear it is the wrong way to do it. I am concerned about what happens to legitimate e-tailers. What about iTunes revenues? What about eMusic? Will the checks coming from these giants start to diminish when everything is flowing like water? I think so... Than we are in a worse quandary than we are in now. Furthermore... where are the independents in this? When we have a giant pool of revenue to be split by the majors and the independents, I am afraid our little slice of the pie just might not be enough to justify this huge change in business model.
On a positive note, I am glad that the majors are looking at opportunities such as this. It often takes a major player to be the catalyst for change. I just wish they would find a more feasible model.