I'm told that the music review site Pitchfork is one of the most respected music review sites online and so Chris Dahlen's Pitchfork write-up on the music scene in Second Life caught my eye today.  Here's his take on the basic idea:

"While touring remains the most reliable money-maker and merch-mover for indie bands, it's also a creaky, 19th century business model-- and a grueling way for new acts to reach new audiences. The internet helps bands save time and money in hundreds of ways, as they post their gig schedules, direct their online street teams, and stream and archive concerts for the folks who were too far away to attend. But what if artists could leap all the way into cyberspace-- where they could play one show to a worldwide audience, and practically for free?"

It's a fun article and touches on some of the key issues in this emerging phenomenon.  For a look inside the mind of a virtual music industry guy, see also Eric Rice on the topic.
Found via 3pointD.

Mike at TechDirt points to a post I missed a couple of days ago over at CNet, apparently  Yahoo Music chief Dave Goldberg said at an event this week called Music 2.0 that online services should consider selling music without layers of copyright protection baked in to the files. (DRM= digital rights management) Incredible!  Goldberg, who had top billing amongst keynote speakers at the event, pointed to eMusic as an example of a service that could succeed selling music online without limiting what users can do with the files after they purchase them.

This sounds very cool.  For now services like eMusic probably have an edge by offering music files more valuable than the locked down files that other services sell.  One way or the other, media is no longer an economy based on scarcity and attempts to create scarcity through technologies like DRM or heavy handed lawsuits seem destined to fail to me.   There has to be some value proposition other than scarcity - it's really kind of exciting to think about.  What can vendors offer that impels customers to buy from them when the "products" are available, even free, elsewhere?  The possibilities are endless, tying music downloads to concert promotion/tickets is the most widely discussed example.  "Liner notes," other branded multi-media beyond the music file itself, superior quality to files found in the wild.  There are lots of possibilities.