Digital music (was: Interesting Tim O'Reilly article)

Hi, Regarding the being able to work around expensive studios to produce music: yes. I know a (computer-audio-) guy who spent EUR 50K on a bunch of digital "studio" audio equipment (mixing, levellers, edit workbench, etc) and computers for work and storage (I did that part for them), and he then teamed up with an "analog" audio guy who set up the "analog" part of their setup (mikes, recording room, whatnot.) They now make a good living doing recordings and mastering sessions for artists in Holland and Belgium- both starting ones __and__ some known ones. They recently asked me to again help them with setting up a digital music distribution and delivery system, as their "customers" (artists) asked them to also act as their "record company" using New Media. When they have done the legal legwork, I'll be building an online record store for them, with an almost direct link to the studio. So... yes. It can be done, and it can work well. The traditional companies in that field are scared shitless, because THEY HAVE NO CLUE as to what's hitting them. Youth today _really_ doesn't care [anymore] about 101% [sic] pure audio quality, they are _fine_ with 192Kbps MP3/Pro files which then can then stuff onto a CD. I am, too, often. The proposed "album" price in the "shop" above was EUR 8 to EUR 10 (about same for US$), and their short investigation has shown that customers were OK with that, including the fact that they had to download the stuff. [Optionally, the "shop" will have a CD-R/DVD-R burning service, by the way, for, I believe, EUR 2.5 plus shipping] The latest rumor is, that a wellknown Dutch concert managing agency has contacted them whether or not they would be able and willing to handle _all_ their live recordings of gigs, including.. yes, the "shop". Traditionally, "live albums" are sucked dry by studios and recording companies- the artists get very little out of them. This "New Shop" (hey, that sounds familiar.. hmm...) doesn't have to, so artists AND fans benefit. Again, dunno where this is going, as it's not there yet. I am a consultant, so, advise on the technical issues. But, while busy doing that, I did notice that the "other" guys were scared shitless _all_ the time, and didn't know what to say _most_ of the time I was there... The same most probably goes for the video/movie industry... dunno about that world, but there, the "distribution channel" is even more powerful.... Cheers, Fred