Music Downloading - New Business Model Needed

In light of the recent charge to a 15 year old for downloading music, and the subsequent support of the girl by a Vancouver recording studio/artist management group, I am rehashing an old article I blogged about 4 months ago;

There has been much in the news lately about music file sharing and such, and I thought I would say something...how about the recording industry start thinking out the box and figure a way to capitalize on the trend of how people get their music, instead of trying to play catch up, and go after "per unit" sales? The one thing that they complain about, has been overcome by other industries, and they are doing quite well...did you hear the movie theatres start to complain because everyone decided to create home theatres? Did you hear live theater complain when everyone started to stay home and watch tv years ago? How about when the movie industry created videos, so we could watch anything at our leisure? We could even record it and do what we wanted with it. How about when LPs were the big thing, it wasn't such a big deal to copy it to a cassette! Every industry goes through a transformation, and have adapted in the past, as I am sure the recording industry will in the future.
Here are some ideas;
1. Start selling ad space in songs as trailers to albums and concert tours
2. Charge a nominal fee based on bandwidth useage to the ISPs
3. Create a "clearing house" to legitimately distribute music, and charge for ad space, with the likes of Google and Yahoo
4. Add a small surcharge to concerts and public appearances
5. Add an additional night of a concert, to make up for royalties lost on sales
6. Create a climate that will make the consumer want to come see the artists perform!
It's high time the recording industry start to look at ways to improve the delivery of their wares, and try to capitalize on the way people are obtaining, rather than trying to get something for every unit. The old distribution model is based on selling a unit and making a profit. This is no longer the case to make it a sustainable industry. Capatializing on the mechanics of distribution, rather than the individuals, will go a long way to making a reasonable amount of money for those who want to.
The sooner the recording industry adapts like the television and movie industry have, the better. The internet and file sharing is here to stay!